/</•> 

/ 


WASHINGTON'S 


FAREWELL  ADDRESS; 


THE 

1 

PROCLAMATION  OF  JACKSON 


AGAINST 


NULLIFICATION; 


THE  DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE. 


PRINTED  BY  ORDER  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES. 


WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT  PRINTING  OFFICE. 
1862. 


In  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States, 

Tuesday , March  11,  1862. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  E.  P.  Walton,  from  the  Committee  on  Printing — 

Resolved , That  fifty  thousand  extra  copies  of  the  Farewell  Address  of  George  Washington, 
together  with  the  Proclamation  of  President  Jackson  of  December  10,  1832',  and  the 
Declaration  of  American  Independence,  be  printed  for  the  use  of  the  House. 

Attest : 


EMERSON  ETHERIDGE,  Clerk. 


) U 2- 


WASHINGTON’S 


FAREWELL  ADDRESS 

TO  THE 

PEOPLE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


SEPTEMBER,  1 796. 


Friends  and  fellow-citizens  : 

The  period  for  a new  election  of  a citizen  to  administer  the  Executive  govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  being  not  far  distant,  and  the-  time  actually  arrived 
when  your  thoughts  must  be  employed  in  designating  the  person  who  is  to  be 
clothed  with  that  important  trust,  it  appears  to  me  proper,  especially  as  it  may 
conduce  to  a more  distinct  expression  of  the  public  voice,  that  I should  now 
apprise  you  of  the  resolution  I have  formed,  to  decline  being  considered  among 
the  number  of  those  out  of  whom  a choice  is  to  be  made. 

I beg  you,  at  the  same  time,  to  do  me  the  justice  to  be  assured  that  this 
resolution  has  not  been  taken  without  a strict  regard  to  all  the  considerations 
appertaining  to  the  relation  which  binds  a dutiful  citizen  to  his  country;  and 
that  in  withdrawing  the  tender  of  service  which  silence,  in  my  situation,  might 
imply,  I am  influenced  by  no  diminution  of  zeal  for  your  future  interest ; no 
deficiency  of  grateful  respect  for  your  past  kindness ; but  am  supported  by  a 
full  conviction  that  the  step  is  compatible  with  both. 

The  acceptance  of,  and  continuance  hitherto  in,  the  office  to  which  your 
suffrages  have  twice  called  me,  have  been  a uniform  sacrifice  of  inclination  to 
the  opinion  of  duty,  and  to  a deference  for  what  appeared  to  be  your  desire.  I 
constantly  hoped  that  it  would  have  been  much  earlier  in  my  power,  con- 
sistently with  motives  which  I was  not  at  liberty  to  disregard,  to  return  to  that 
retirement  from  which  I had  been  reluctantly  drawn.  The  strength  of  my  in- 
clination to  do  this  previous  to  the  last  election  had  even  led  to  the  preparation 
of  an  address  to  declare  it  to  you ; but  mature  reflection  on  the  then  perplexed 
and  critical  posture  of  our  affairs  with  foreign  nations,  and  the  unanimous  advice 
of  persons  entitled  to  my  confidence,  impelled  me  to  abandon  the  idea. 

I rejoice  that  the  state  of  your  concerns,  external  as  well  as  internal,  no 
longer  renders  the  pursuit  of  inclination  incompatible  with  the  sentiment  of 
duty  or  propriety  ; and  am  persuaded,  whatever  partiality  may  be  retained  for 
my  services,  that,  in  the  present  circumstances  of  our  country,  you  will  not  dis- 
approve my  determination  to  retire. 

The  impressions  with  which  I first  undertook  the  arduous  trust  were  explained 
on  the  proper  occasion.  In  the  discharge  of  this  trust,  I will  only  say  that  I 
have,  with  good  intentions,  contributed  towards  the  organization  and  administra- 
tion of  the  government  the  best  exertions  of  which  a very  fallible  judgment  was 


4 


Washington’s  farewell  address. 


capable.  Not  unconscious  in  the  outset  of  the  inferiority  of  my  qualifications, 
experience  in  my  own  eyes,  perhaps  still  more  in  the  eyes  of  others,  has 
strengthened  the  motives  to  diffidence  of  myself;  and  every  day  the  increasing 
weight  of  years  admonishes  me  more  and  more  that  the  shade  of  retirement  is 
as  necessary  to  me  as  it  will  be  welcome.  Satisfied  that  if  any  circumstances 
had  given  peculiar  value  to  my  services,  they  were  temporary,  I have  the  con- 
solation to  believe  that  while  choice  and  prudence  invite  me  to  quit  the  political 
scene,  patriotism  does  not  forbid  it. 

In  looking  forward  to  the  moment  which  is  intended  to  terminate  the  career 
of  my  public  life,  my  feelings  do  not  permit  me  to  suspend  the  deep  acknowledg- 
ment of  that  debt  of  gratitude  which  I owe  to  my  beloved  country  for  the  many 
honors  it  has  conferred  upon  me;  still  more  for  the  steadfast  confidence  with 
which  it  has  supported  me;  and  for  the  opportunities  I have  thence  enjoyed  of 
manifesting  my  inviolable  attachment,  by  services  faithful  and  persevering, 
though  in  usefulness  unequal  to  my  zeal.  If  benefits  have  resulted  to  our 
country  from  these  services,  let  it  always  be  remembered  to  your  praise,  and  as 
an  instructive  example  in  our  annals,  that,  under  circumstances  in  which  the 
passions,  agitated  in  every  direction,  were  liable  to  mislead,  amidst  appearances 
sometimes  dubious,  vicissitudes  of  fortune,  often  discouraging  in  situations  in 
which,  not  unfrequently,  want  of  success  has  countenanced  the  spirit  of  criticism, 
the  constancy  of  your  support  was  the  essential  prop  of  the  efforts,  and  a guar- 
antee of  the  plans  by  which  they  were  effected.  Profoundly  penetrated  with 
this  idea,  I shall  carry  it  with  me  to  my  grave,  as  a strong  incitement  to  un- 
ceasing vows,  that  heaven  may  continue  to  you  the  choicest  tokens  of  its  benefi- 
cence; that  your  union  and  brotherly  affection  may  be  perpetual;  that  the  free 
Constitution,  which  is  the  work  of  your  hands,  may  be  sacrediy  maintained ; 
that  its  administration,  in  every  department,  may  be  stamped  with  wisdom  and 
virtue ; that,  in  fine,  the  happiness  of  the  people  of  these  States,  under  the  au- 
spices of  liberty,  may  be  made  complete,  by  so  careful  a preservation,  and  so 
prudent  a use  of  this  blessing,  as  will  acquire  to  them  the  glory  of  recommend- 
ing it  to  the  applause,  the  affection,  and  the  adoption  of  every  nation  which  is 
yet  a stranger  to  it. 

Here,  perhaps,  I ought  to  stop ; but  a solicitude  for  your  welfare,  which 
cannot  end  but  with  my  life,  and  the  apprehension  of  danger  natural  to  that 
solicitude,  urge  me,  on  an  occasion  like  the  present,  to  offer  to  your  solemn  con- 
templation, and  to  recommend  to  your  frequent  review,  some  sentiments,  which 
are  the  result  of  much  reflection — of  no  inconsiderable  observation — and  which 
appear  to  me  all  important  to  the  permanency  of  your  felicity  as  a people. 
These  will  be  afforded  to  you  with  the  more  freedom,  as  you  can  only  see  in 
them  the  disinterested  warnings  of  a parting  friend,  who  can  possibly  have  no 
personal  motive  to  bias  his  counsel ; nor  can  I forget,  as  an  encouragement  to 
it,  your  indulgent  reception  of  my  sentiments  on  a former  and  not  dissimilar 
occasion. 

Interwoven  as  is  the  love  of  liberty  with  every  ligament  of  your  hearts,  no 
recommendatioii  of  mine  is  necessary  to  fortify  or  confirm  the  attachment. 

The  unity  of  government,  which  constitutes  you  one  people,  is  also  now  dear 
to  you.  It  is  justly  so,  for  it  is  a main  pillar  in  the  edifice  of  your  real  inde- 
pendence ; the  support  of  your  tranquillity  at  home,  your  peace  abroad ; of  your 
safety;  of  your  prosperity;  of  that  very  liberty  which  you  so  highly  prize. 
But  as  it  is  easy  to  foresee  that,  from  different  causes  and  from  different  quar- 
ters, much  pains  will  be  taken,  many  artifices  employed,  to  weaken  in  your 
minds  the  conviction  of  this  truth — as  this  is  the  point  in  your  political  fortress 
against  which  the  batteries  of  internal  and  external  enemies  will  be  most  con- 
stantly and  actively  (though  often  covertly  and  insidiously)  directed — it  is  of 
infinite  moment  that  you  should  properly  estimate  the  immense  value  of  your 
national  Union  to  your  collective  and  individual  happiness;  that  you  should 


WASHINGTON’S  FAREWELL  ADDRESS. 


cherish  a cordial,  habitual,  and  immovable  attachment  to  it ; accustoming  your- 
selves to  think  and  speak  of  it  as  of  the  palladium  of  your  political  safety  and 
prosperity;  watching  for  its  preservation  with  jealous  anxiety;  discountenancing 
whatever  may  suggest  even  a suspicion  that  it  can,  in  any  event,  be  abandoned ; 
and  indignantly  frowning  upon  the  first  dawning  of  every  attempt  to  alienate 
any  portion  of  our  country  from  the  rest,  or  to  enfeeble  the  sacred  ties  which 
now  link  together  the  various  parts. 

For  this  you  have  every  inducement  of  sympathy  and  interest.  Citizens,  by 
birth  or  choice,  of  a common  country,  that  country  has  a right  to  concentrate 
your  affections.  The  name  of  American,  which  belongs  to  you  in  your  national 
capacity,  must  always  exalt  the  just  pride  of  patriotism  more  than  any  appella- 
tion derived  from  local  discriminations.  With  slight  shades  of  difference,  you 
have  the  same  religion,  manners,  habits,  and  political  principles.  You  have, 
in  a common  cause,  fought  and  triumphed  together ; the  independence  and  lib- 
erty you  possess  are  the  work  of  joint  counsels  and  joint  efforts,  of  common 
dangers,  sufferings,  and  successes. 

But  these  considerations,  however  powerfully  they  address  themselves  to  your 
sensibility,  are  greatly  outweighed  by  those  which  apply  more  immediately  to 
your  interest;  here  every  portion  of  our  country  finds  the  most  commanding 
motives  for  carefully  guarding  and  preserving  the  union  of  the  whole. 

The  north,  in  an  unrestrained  intercourse  with  the  south,  protected  by  the 
equal  laws  of  a common  government,  finds,  in  the  productions  of  the  latter,  great 
additional  resources  of  maritime  and  commercial  enterprise,  and  precious  materials 
of  manufacturing  industry.  The  south,  in  the  same  intercourse,  benefiting  by 
the  same  agency  of  the  north,  sees  its  agriculture  grow,  and  its  commerce  expand. 
Turning  partly  into  its  own  channels  the  seamen  of  the  north,  it  finds  its  par- 
ticular navigation  invigorated;  and  while  it  contributes,  in  different  ways,  to 
nourish  and  increase  the  general  mass  of  the  national  navigation,  it  looks  for- 
ward to  the  protection  of  a maritime  strength,  to  which  itself  is  unequally 
adapted.  The  east,  in  like  intercourse  with  the  west,  already  finds,  and  in  the 
progressive  improvement  of  interior  communication,  by  land  and  water,  will 
more  and  more  find  a valuable  vent  for  the  commodities  which  it  brings  from 
abroad  or  manufactures  at  home.  The  west  derives  from  the  east  supplies 
requisite  to  its  growth  and  comfort ; and  what  is  perhaps  of  still  greater  con- 
sequence, it  must,  of  necessity,  owe  the  secure  enjoyment  of  indispensable  out- 
lets for  its  own  productions,  to  the  weight,  influence,  and  the  future  maritime  strength 
of  the  Atlantic  side  of  the  Union,  directed  by  an  indissoluble  community  of 
interest  as  one  nation.  Any  other  tenure  by  which  the  west  can  hold  this 
essential  advantage,  whether  derived  from  its  own  separate  strength,  or  from  an 
apostate  and  unnatural  connexion  with  any  foreign  power,  must  be  intrinsically 
precarious. 

While,  then,  every  part  of  our  country  thus  feels  an  immediate  and  particular 
interest  in  union,  all  the  parts  combined  cannot  fail  to  find,  in  the  united  mass 
of  means  and  efforts,  greater  strength,  greater  resource,  proportionably  greater 
security  from  external  danger,  a less  frequent  interruption  of  their  peace  by 
foreign  nations ; and  what  is  of  inestimable  value,  they  must  derive  from  union 
an  exemption  from  those  broils  and  wars  between  themselves,  which  so  frequently 
afflict  neighboring  countries  not  tied  together  by  the  same  government,  which 
their  own  rivalships  alone  would  be  sufficient  to  produce,  but  which  opposite 
foreign  alliances,  attachments,  and  intrigues  would  stimulate  and  embitter. 
Hence,  likewise,  they  will  avoid  the  necessity  of  those  overgrown  military 
establishments  which,  under  any  form  of  government,  are  inauspicious  to  liberty, 
and  which  are  to  be  regarded  as  particularly  hostile  to  republican  liberty;  in 
this  sense  it  is  that  your  union  ought  to  be  considered  as  a main  prop  of  your 
liberty,  and  that  the  love  of  the  one  ought  to  endear  to  you  the  preservation  of 
the  other. 


6 


Washington’s  farewell  address. 


These  considerations  speak  a persuasive  language  to  every  reflecting  and 
virtuous  mind,  and  exhibit  the  continuance  of  the  Union  as  a primary  object  of 
patriotic  desire.  Is  there  a doubt  whether  a common  government  can  embrace 
so  large  a sphere  ? Let  experience  solve  it.  To  listen  to  mere  speculation  in 
such  a case  were  criminal.  We  are  authorized  to  hope  that  a proper  organiza- 
tion of  the  whole,  with  the  auxiliary  agency  of  governments  for  the  respective 
subdivisions,  will  afford  a happy  issue  to  the  experiment.  It  is  well  worth  a 
fair  and  full  experiment.  With  such  powerful  and  obvious  motives  to  union, 
affecting  all  parts  of  our  country,  while  experience  shall  not  have  demonstrated 
its  impracticability,  there  will  always  be  reason  to  distrust  the  patriotism  of 
those  who  in  any  quarter  may  endeavor  to  weaken  its  bands. 

In  contemplating  the  causes  which  may  disturb  our  Union,  it  occurs,  as  a 
matter  of  serious  concern,  that  any  ground  should  have  been  furnished  for 
characterizing  parties  by  geographical  discriminations  ; northern  and  southern ; 
Atlantic  and  western;  whence  designing  men  may  endeavor  to  excite  a belief 
that  there  is  a real  difference  of  local  interests  and  views.  One  of  the  expe- 
dients of  party  to  acquire  influence  within  particular  districts  is  to  misrepresent 
the  opinions  and  aims  of  other  districts.  You  cannot  shield  yourselves  too 
much  against  the  jealousies  and  heart-burnings  which  spring  from  these  mis- 
representations : they  tend  to  render  alien  to  each  other  those  who  ought  to  be 
bound  together  by  fraternal  affection.  The  inhabitants  of  our  western  country 
have  lately  had  a useful  lesson  on  this  head.  They  have  seen  in  the  negotiation 
by  the  Executive,  and  in  the  unanimous  ratification  by  the  Senate  of  the  treaty 
with  Spain,  and  in  the  universal  satisfaction  at  that  event  throughout  the 
United  States,  a decisive  proof  how  unfounded  were  the  suspicions  propagated 
among  them  of  a policy  in  the  general  government  and  in  the  Atlantic  States 
unfriendly  to  their  interests  in  regard  to  the  Mississippi.  They  have  been  wit- 
nesses to  the  formation  of  two  treaties : that  with  Great  Britain  and  that  with 
Spain,  which  secure  to  them  everything  they  could  desire,  in  respect  to  our 
foreign  relations,  towards  confirming  their  prosperity.  Will  it  not  be  their 
wisdom  to  rely  for  the  preservation  of  these  advantages  on  the  Union  by  which 
they  were  procured  ? Will  they  not  henceforth  be  deaf  to  those  advisers,  if 
such  there  are,  who  would  sever  them  from  their  brethren  and  connect  them 
with  aliens  ? 

To  the  efficacy  and  permanency  of  your  union,  a government  for  the  whole  is 
indispensable.  No  alliance,  however  strict  between  the  parts,  can  be  an  ade- 
quate substitute;  they  must  inevitably  experience  the  infractions  and  interrup- 
tions which  all  alliances,  in  all  times,  have  experienced.  Sensible  of  this  mo- 
mentous truth,  you  have  improved  upon  your  first  essay  by  the  adoption  of  a 
constitution  of  government  better  calculated  than  your  former  for  an  intimate 
union,  and  for  the  efficacious  management  of  your  common  concerns.  This 
government,  the  offspring  of  our  own  choice,  uninfluenced  and  unawed,  adopted 
upon  full  investigation  and  mature  deliberation,  completely  free  in  its  principles, 
in  the  distribution  of  its  powers,  uniting  security  with  energy,  and  containing 
wdthin  itself  a provision  for  its  own  amendment,  has  a just  claim  to  your  confi- 
dence and  your  support.  Respect  for  its  authority,  compliance  with  its  laws, 
acquiescence  in  its  measures,  are  duties  enjoined  by  the  fundamental  maxims  of 
true  liberty.  The  basis  of  our  political  system  is  the  right  of  the  people  to  make 
and  to  alter  their  constitutions  of  government;  but  the  constitution  which  at  any 
time  exists,  till  changed  by  an  explicit  and  authentic  act  of  the  whole  people,  is 
sacredly  obligatory  upon  all.  The  very  idea  of  the  power  and  the  right  of  the 
people  to  establish  government  presupposes  the  duty  of  every  individual  to  obey 
the  established  government. 

All  obstructions  to  the  execution  of  the  laws,  all  combinations  and  associa- 
tions, under  whatever  plausible  character,  with  the  real  design  to  direct,  control, 
counteract,  or  awe  the  regular  deliberation  and  action  of  the  constituted  authori- 


WASHINGTON  S FAREWELL  ADDRESS. 


7 


ties,  are  destructive  of  this  fundamental  principle,  and  of  fatal  tendency.  They 
serve  to  organize  faction,  to  give  it  an  artificial  and  extraordinary  force,  to  put 
in  the  place  of  the  delegated  will  of  the  nation  the  will  of  a party,  often  a small 
but  artful  and  enterprising  minority  of  the  community ; and,  according  to  the 
alternate  triumphs  of  different  parties,  to  make  the  public  administration  the 
mirror  of  the  ill-concerted  and  incongruous  projects  of  faction,  rather  than  the 
organ  of  consistent  and  wholesome  plans,  digested  by  common  councils,  and 
modified  by  mutual  interests. 

However  combinations,  or  associations  of  the  above  description  may  now  and 
then  answer  popular  ends,  they  are  likely,  in  the  course  of  time  and  things,  to 
become  potent  engines,  by  which  cunning,  ambitious,  and  unprincipled  men  will 
be  enabled  to  subvert  the  power  of  the  people,  and  to  usurp  for  themselves  the 
reins  of  government ; destroying,  afterwards,  the  very  engines  which  had  lifted 
them  to  unjust  dominion. 

Towards  the  preservation  of  your  government  and  the  permanency  of  your 
present  happy  state,  it  is  requisite,  not  only  that  you  steadily  discountenance 
irregular  oppositions  to  its  acknowledged  authority,  but  also  that  you  resist  with 
care  the  spirit  of  innovation  upon  its  principles,  However  specious  the  pretexts. 
One  method  of  assault  may  be  to  effect  in  the  forms  of  the  Constitution  altera- 
tions which  impair  the  energy  of  the  system,  and  thus  to  undermine  what  cannot 
be  directly  overthrown.  In  all  the  changes  to  which  you  may  be  invited, 
remember  that  time  and  habit  are  at  least  as  necessary  to  fix  the  true  character 
of  governments  as  of  other  human  institutions;  that  experience  is  the  surest 
standard  by  which  to  test  the  real  tendency  of  the  existing  constitution  of  a 
country ; that  facility  in  changes,  upon  the  credit  of  mere  hypothesis  and  opin- 
ion, exposes  to  perpetual  change  from  the  endless  variety  of  hypothesis  and 
opinion;  and  remember,  especially,  that  for  the  efficient  management  of  your 
common  interests,  in  a country  so  extensive  as  ours,  a government  of  as  much 
vigor  as  is  consistent  with  the  perfect  security  of  liberty,  is  indispensable. 
Liberty  itself  will  find  in  such  a government,  with  powers  properly  distributed 
and  adjusted,  its  surest  guardian.  It  is,  indeed,  little  else  than  a name  where 
the  government  is  too  feeble  to  withstand  the  enterprises  of  faction,  to  confine 
each  member  of  the  society  within  the  limits  prescribed  by  the  laws,  and  to 
maintain  all  in  the  secure  and  tranquil  enjoyments  of  the  rights  of  person  and 
property. 

I have  already  intimated  to  you  the  danger  of  parties  in  the  State,  with  par- 
ticular reference  to  the  founding  of  them  on  geographical  discriminations.  Let 
me  now  take  a more  comprehensive  view,  and  warn  you,  in  the  most  solemn 
manner,  against  the  baneful  effects  of  the  spirit  of  party  generally. 

The  spirit,  unfortunately,  is  inseparable  from  our  nature,  having  its  root  in 
the  strongest  passions  of  the  human  mind.  It  exists  under  different  shapes,  in 
all  governments,  more  or  less  stifled,  controlled,  or  repressed;  but  in  those  of 
the  popular  form,  it  is  seen  in  its  greatest  rankness,  and  is  truly  their  worst 
enemy. 

The  alternate  domination  of  one  faction  over  another,  sharpened  by  the  spirit 
of  revenge,  natural  to  party  dissension,  which,  in  different  ages  and  countries, 
has  perpetrated  the  most  horrid  enormities,  is  itself  a frightful  despotism.  But 
this  leads  at  length  to  a more  formal  and  permanent  despotism.  The  disorders 
and  miseries  which  result  gradually  incline  the  minds  of  men  to  seek  security 
and  repose  in  the  absolute  power  of  an  individual,  and,  sooner  or  later,  the 
chief  of  some  prevailing  faction,  more  able  or  more  fortunate  than  his  com- 
petitors, turns  this  disposition  to  the  purposes  of  his  own  elevation  on  the  ruins 
of  public  liberty. 

Without  looking  forward  to  an  extremity  of  this  kind,  (which,  nevertheless, 
ought  not  to  be  entirely  out  of  sight,)  the  common  and  continual  mischiefs  of  the 


8 


WASHINGTON  S FAREWELL  ADDRESS. 


spirit  of  party  are  sufficient  to  make  it  the  interest  and  duty  of  a wise  people  to 
discourage  and  restrain  it. 

It  serves  always  to  distract  the  public  councils  and  enfeeble  the  public 
administration.  It  agitates  the  community  with  ill-founded  jealousies  and  false 
alarms;  kindles  the  animosity  of  one  part  against  another;  foments,  occasionally, 
riot  and  insurrection.  It  opens  the  door  to  foreign  influence  and  corruption, 
which  lind  a facilitated  access  to  the  government  itself,  through  the  channels  of 
party  passions.  Thus  the  policy  and  the  will  of  one  country  are  subjected  to 
the  policy  and  will  of  another. 

There  is  an  opinion  that  parties,  in  free  countries,  are  useful  checks  upon  the 
administration  of  the  government,  and  serve  to  keep  alive  the  spirit  of  liberty. 
This,  within  certain  limits,  is  probably  true ; and  in  governments  of  a monarch- 
ical cast  patriotism  may  look  with  indulgence,  if  not  with  favor,  upon  the  spirit 
of  party.  But  in  those  of  the  popular  character,  in  governments  purely  elective, 
it  is  a spirit  hot  to  be  encouraged.  From  their  natural  tendency  it  is  certain 
there  will  always  be  enough  of  that  spirit  for  every  salutary  purpose.  And 
there  being  constant  danger  of  excess,  the  effort  ought  to  be,  by  force  of  public 
opinion,  to  mitigate  and  assuage  it.  A fire  not  to  be  quenched,  it  demands  a 
uniform  vigilance  to  prevent  its  bursting  into  a flame,  lest,  instead  of  warming, 
it  should  consume. 

It  is  important,  likewise,  that  the  habits  of  thinking,  in  a free  country,  should 
inspire  caution  in  those  intrusted  with  its  administration  to  confine  themselves 
within  their  respective  constitutional  spheres,  avoiding  in  the  exercise  of  the 
powers  of  one  department  to  encroach  upon  another.  The  spirit  of  encroach- 
ment tends  to  consolidate  the  powers  of  all  the  departments  in  one,  and  thus  to 
create,  whatever  the  form  of  government,  a real  despotism.  A just  estimate  of 
that  love  of  power  and  proneness  to  abuse  it  which  predominates  in  the  human 
heart  is  sufficient  to  satisfy  us  of  the  truth  of  this  position.  The  necessity  of 
reciprocal  checks  in  the  exercise  of  political  power,  by  dividing  and  distributing 
it  into  different  depositories,  and  constituting  each  the  guardian  of  the  public 
weal  against  invasions  by  the  others,  has  been  evinced  by  experiments  ancient 
and  modern — some  of  them  in  our  own  country  and  under  our  own  eyes.  To 
preserve  them  must  be  as  necessary  as  to  institute  them.  If,  in  the  opinion  of 
the  people,  the  distribution  or  modification  of  the  constitutional  powers  be  in 
any  particular  wrong,  let  it  be  corrected  by  an  amendment  in  the  way  which 
the  Constitution  designates.  But  let  there  be  no  change  by  usurpation ; for 
though  this,  in  one  instance,  may  be  the  instrument  of  good,  it  is  the  customary 
weapon  by  which  free  governments  are  destroyed.  The  precedent  must  always 
greatly  overbalance,  in  permanent  evil,  any  partial  or  transient  benefit  which 
the  use  can  at  any  time  yield. 

Of  all  the  dispositions  and  habits  which  lead  to  political  prosperity,  religion 
and  morality  are  indispensable  supports.  In  vain  would  that  man  claim  the 
tribute  of  patriotism,  who  should  labor  to  subvert  these  great  pillars  of  human 
happiness,  these  firmest  props  of  the  duties  of  men  and  citizens.  The  mere 
politician,  equally  with  the  pious  man,  ought  to  respect  and  cherish  them.  A 
volume  could  not  trace  all  their  connexions  with  private  and  public  felicity. 
Let  it  simply  be  asked,  where  is  the  security  for  property,  for  reputation,  for 
life,  if  the  sense  of  religious  obligation  desert  the  oaths,  which  are  the  instru- 
ments of  investigation  in  courts  of  justice?  And  let  us  with  caution  indulge  the 
supposition  that  morality  can  be  maintained  without  religion.  Whatever  may 
be  conceded  to  the  influence  of  refined  education  on  minds  of  peculiar  structure, 
reason  and  experience  both  forbid  us  to  expect  that  national  morality  can 
prevail  in  exclusion  of  religious  principles. 

It  is  substantially  true  that  virtue  or  morality  is  a necessary  spring  of  popular 
government.  The  rule  indeed  extends,  with  more  or  less  force,  to  every  species 


Washington's  farewell  address. 


9 


of  free  government.  Who,  that  is  a sincere  friend  to  it,  can  look  with  indiffer- 
ence upon  attempts  to  shake  the  foundation  of  the  fabric  ? 

Promote,  then,  as  an  object  of  primary  importance,  institutions  for  the  general 
diffusion  of  knowledge.  In  proportion  as  the  structure  of  a government  gives 
force  to  public  opinion,  it  is  essential  that  public  opinion  should  be  enlightened. 

As  a very  important  source  of  strength  and  security,  cherish  public  credit. 
One  method  of  preserving  it  is  to  use  it  as  sparingly  as  possible;  avoiding  occa- 
sions of  expense  by  cultivating  peace,  but  remembering  also  that  timely  dis- 
bursements to  prepare  for  danger  frequently  prevent  much  greater  disbursements 
to  repel  it ; avoiding,  likewise,  the  accumulation  of  debt,  not  only  by  shunning 
occasions  of  expense,  but  by  vigorous  exertions  in  time  of  peace  to  discharge 
the  debts  which  unavoidable  wars  may  have  occasioned,  not  ungenerously  throw- 
ing upon  posterity  the  burden  which  we  ourselves  ought  to  bear.  The  execution 
of  these  maxims  belongs  to  your  representatives,  but  it  is  necessary  that  public 
opinion  should  co-operate.  To  facilitate  to  them  the  performance  of  their  duty, 
it  is  essential  that  you  should  practically  bear  in  mind  that,  towards  the  pay- 
ment of  debts  there  must  be  revenue ; that  to  have  revenue  there  must  be  taxes ; 
that  no  taxes  can  be  devised  which  are  not  more  or  less  inconvenient  and 
unpleasant;  that  the  intrinsic  embarrassment,  inseparable  from  the  selection  of 
the  proper  objects,  (which  is  always  a choice  of  difficulties,)  ought  to  be  a 
decisive  motive  for  a candid  construction  of  the  conduct  of  the  government  in 
making  it,  and  for  a spirit  of  acquiescence  in  the  measures  for  obtaining  revenue 
which  the  public  exigencies  may  at  any  time  dictate. 

Observe  good  faith  and  justice  towards  all  nations ; cultivate  peace  and  har- 
mony with  all.  Religion  and  morality  enjoin  this  conduct,  and  can  it  be  that 
good  policy  does  not  equally  enjoin  it  ? It  will  be  worthy  of  a free,  enlight- 
ened, and,  at  no  distant  period,  a great  nation,  to  give  to  mankind  the  magnani- 
mous and  too  novel  example  of  a people  always  guided  by  an  exalted  justice 
and  benevolence.  Who  can  doubt  but,  in  the  course  of  time  and  things,  the 
fruits  of  such  a plan  would  richly  repay  any  temporary  advantages  which  might 
be  lost  by  a steady  adherence  to  it  ? Can  it  be  that  Providence  has  not  con- 
nected the  permanent  felicity  of  a nation  with  its  virtue  ? The  experiment,  at 
least,  is  recommended  by  every  sentiment  which  ennobles  human  nature.  Alas ! 
is  it  rendered  impossible  by  its  vices  ? 

In  the  execution  of  such  a plan  nothing  is  more  essential  than  that  permanent 
inveterate  antipathies  against  particular  nations,  and  passionate  attachments  for 
others,  should  be  excluded,  and  that,  in  place  of  them,  just  and  amicable  feelings 
towards  all  should  be  cultivated.  The  nation  which  indulges  towards  another 
an  habitual  hatred,  or  an  habitual  fondness,  is,  in  some  degree,  a slave.  It  is  a 
slave  to  its  animosity  or  to  its  affection,  either  of  which  is  sufficient  to  lead  it 
astray  from  its  duty  and  its  interest.  Antipathy  in  one  nation  against  another 
disposes  each  more  readily  to  offer  insult  and  injury,  to  lay  hold  of  slight  causes 
of  umbrage,  and  to  be  haughty  and  intractable  when  accidental  or  trilling  occa- 
sions of  dispute  occur.  Hence  frequent  collisions,  obstinate,  envenomed,  and 
bloody  contests.  The  nation,  prompted  by  ill  will  and  resentment,  sometimes 
impels  to  war  the  government,  contrary  to  the  best  calculations  of  policy.  The 
government  sometimes  participates  in  the  national  propensity,  and  adopts, 
through  passion,  what  reason  would  reject;  at  other  times  it  makes  the  animosity 
of  the  nation  subservient  to  projects  of  hostility  instigated  by  pride,  ambition, 
and  other  sinister  and  pernicious  motives.  The  peace  often,  sometimes  perhaps 
the  liberty,  of  nations  has  been  the  victim. 

So,  likewise,  a passionate  attachment  of  one  nation  to  another  produces  a 
variety  of  evils.  Sympathy  for  the  favorite  nation,  facilitating  the  illusion  of 
an  imaginary  common  interest  in  cases  where  no  real  common  interest  exists, 
and  infusing  into  one  the  enmities  of  the  other,  betrays  the  former  into  a parti- 
cipation in  the  quarrels  and  wars  of  the  latter,  without  adequate  inducement  or 


10 


WASHINGTON  S FAREWELL  ADDRESS. 


justification.  It  leads  also  to  concessions  to  the  favorite  nation  of  privileges 
denied  to  others,  which  is  apt  doubly  to  injure  the  nation  making  the  conces- 
sions, by  unnecessarily  parting  with  wliat  ought  to  have  been  retained,  and  by 
exciting  jealousy,  ill  will,  and  a disposition  to  retaliate  in  the  parties  from  whom 
equal  privileges  are  withheld;  and  it  gives  to  ambitious,  corrupted,  or  deluded 
citizens  (who  devote  themselves  to  the  favorite  nation)  facility  to  betray  or  sac- 
rifice the  interest  of  their  own  country,  without  odium,  sometimes  even  with 
popularity ; gilding  with  the  appearances  of  a virtuous  sense  of  obligation  a 
commendable  deference  for  public  opinion,  or  a laudable  zeal  for  public  good, 
the  base  or  foolish  compliances  of  ambition,  corruption,  or  infatuation. 

As  avenues  to  foreign  influence  in  innumerable  ways,  such  attachments  are 
particularly  alarming  to  the  truly  enlightened  and  independent  patriot.  How 
many  opportunities  do  they  afford  to  tamper  with  domestic  factions,  to  practice 
the  art  of  seduction,  to  mislead  public  opinion,  to  influence  or  awe  the  public 
councils ! Such  an  attachment  of  a small  or  weak,  towards  a great  and  power- 
ful nation,  dooms  the  former  to  be  the  satellite  of  the  latter. 

Against  the  insidious  wiles  of  foreign  influence,  (I  conjure  you  to  believe  me, 
fellow-citizens,)  the  jealousy  of  a free  people  ought  to  be  constantly  awake ; since 
history  and  experience  prove  that  foreign  influence  is  one  of  the  most  baneful 
foes  of  republican  government.  But  that  jealousy,  to  be  useful,  must  be  impar- 
tial, else  it  becomes  the  instrument  of  the  very  influence  to  be  avoided,  instead 
of  a defence  against  it.  Excessive  partiality  for  one  foreign  nation,  and  exces- 
sive dislike  for  another,  cause  those  whom  they  actuate  to  see  danger  only  on 
one  side,  and  serve  to  vail  and  even  second  the  arts  of  influence  on  the  other. 
Beal  patriots,  who  may  resist  the  intrigues  of  the  favorite,  are  liable  to  become 
suspected  and  odious,  while  its  tools  and  dupes  usurp  the  applause  and  confi- 
dence of  the  people,  to  surrender  their  interests. 

The  great  rule  of  conduct  for  us,  in  regard  to  foreign  nations,  is,  in  extending 
our  commercial  relations,  to  have  with  them  as  little  political  connexion  as  pos- 
sible. So  far  as  we  have  already  formed  engagements,  let  them  be  fulfilled  with 
perfect  good  faith.  Here  let  us  stop. 

Europe  has  a set  of  primary  interests,  which  to  us  have  none,  or  a very  re- 
mote relation.  Hence  she  must  be  engaged  in  frequent  controversies,  the  causes 
of  which  are  essentially  foreign  to  our  concerns.  Hence,  therefore,  it  must  be 
unwise  in  us  to  implicate  ourselves  by  artificial  ties  in  the  ordinary  vicissitudes 
of  her  politics,  or  the  ordinary  combinations  and  collisions  of  her  friendships  or 
enmities. 

Our  detached  and  distant  situation  invites  and  enables  us  to  pursue  a different 
course.  If  we  remain  one  people,  under  an  efficient  government,  the  period  is 
not  far  off  when  we  may  defy  material  injury  from  external  annoyance;  when 
we  may  take  such  an  attitude  as  will  cause  the  neutrality  we  may  at  any  time 
resolve  upon  to  be  scrupulously  respected;  when  belligerent  nations,  under  the 
impossibility  of  making  acquisitions  upon  us,  will  not  lightly  hazard  the  giving 
us  provocation ; when  we  may  choose  peace  or  war,  as  our  interest,  guided  by 
justice,  shall  counsel. 

Why  forego  the  advantages  of  so  peculiar  a situation  1 Why  quit  our  own 
to  stand  upon  foreign  ground  1 Why,  by  interweaving  our  destiny  with  that  of 
any  part  of  Europe,  entangle  our  peace  and  prosperity  in  the  toils  of  European 
ambition,  rivalship,  interest,  humor,  or  caprice  ? 

It  is  our  true  policy  to  steer  clear  of  permanent  alliances  with  any  portion  of 
the  foreign  world ; so  far,  I mean,  as  we  are  now  at  liberty  to  do  it ; for  let  me 
not  be  understood  as  capable  of  patronizing  infidelity  to  existing  engagements. 
I hold  the  maxim,  no  less  applicable  to  public  than  to  private  affairs,  that  hon- 
esty is  always  the  best  policy.  I repeat  it,  therefore,  let  those  engagements  be 
observed  in  their  genuine  sense.  But,  in  my  opinion,  it  is  unnecessary  and 
would  be  unwise  to  extend  them. 


Washington’s  farewell  address. 


11 


Taking  care  always  to  keep  ourselves,  by  suitable  establishments,  on  a re- 
spectable defensive  posture,  we  may  safely  trust  to  temporary  alliances  for  ex- 
traordinary emergencies. 

Harmony  and  a liberal  intercourse  with  all  nations  are  recommended  by 
policy,  humanity,  and  interest.  But  even  our  commercial  policy  should  hold 
an  equal  and  impartial  hand ; neither  seeking  nor  granting  exclusive  favors  or 
preferences  ; consulting  the  natural  course  of  things  ; diffusing  and  diversifying, 
by  gentle  means,  the  streams  of  commerce,  but  forcing  nothing ; establishing, 
with  powers  so  disposed,  in  order  to  give  trade  a stable  course,  to  define  the 
rights  of  our  merchants,  and  to  enable  the  government  to  support  them,  conven- 
tional rules  of  intercourse,  the  best  that  present  circumstances  and  mutual  opin- 
ions will  permit,  but  temporary,  and  liable  to  be  from  time  to  time  abandoned  or 
varied,  as  experience  and  circumstances  shall  dictate ; constantly  keeping  in 
view  that  it  is  folly  in  one  nation  to  look  for  disinterested  favors  from  another ; 
that  it  must  pay  with  a portion  of  its  independence  for  whatever  it  may  accept 
under  that  character ; that  by  such  acceptance  it  may  place  itself  in  the  condi- 
tion of  having  equivalents  for  nominal  favors,  and  yet  of  being  reproached  with 
ingratitude  for  not  giving  more.  There  can  be  no  greater  error  than  to  expect 
or  calculate  upon  real  favors  from  nation  to  nation.  It  is  an  illusion  which  ex- 
perience must  cure,  which  a just  pride  ought  to  discard. 

In  offering  to  you,  my  countrymen,  these  counsels  of  an  old  and  affectionate 
friend,  I dare  not  hope  they  will  make  the  strong  and  lasting  impression  I could 
wish ; that  they  will  control  the  usual  current  of  the  passions,  or  prevent  our 
nation  from  running  the  course  which  lias  hitherto  marked  the  destiny  of  nations  ; 
but  if  I may  even  flatter  myself  that  they  may  be  productive  of  some  partial 
benefit,  some  occasional  good ; that  they  may  now  and  then  recur  to  moderate 
the  fury  of  party  spirit,  to  warn  against  the  mischiefs  of  foreign  intrigues,  to 
guard  against  the  impostures  of  pretended  patriotism,  this  hope  will  be  a full 
recompense  for  the  solicitude  for  your  welfare  by  which  they  have  been  dictated. 

How  far,  in  the  discharge  of  my  official  duties,  I have  been  guided  by  the 
principles  which  have  been  delineated,  the  public  records  and  other  evidences  of 
my  conduct  must  witness  to  you  and  the  world.  To  myself  the  assurance  of 
my  own  conscience  is,  that  I have  at  least  believed  myself  to  be  guided  by 
them. 

In  relation  to  the  still  subsisting  war  in  Europe,  my  proclamation  of  the  22d 
of  April,  1793,  is  the  index  to  my  plan.  Sanctioned  by  your  approving  voice, 
and  by  that  of  your  representatives  in  both  houses  of  Congress,  the  spirit  of 
that  measure  has  continually  governed  me,  uninfluenced  by  any  attempts  to 
deter  or  divert  me  from  it. 

After  deliberate  examination,  with  the  aid  of  the  best  lights  I could  obtain, 
I was  well  satisfied  that  our  country,  under  all  the  circumstances  of  the  case, 
had  a right  to  take,  and  was  bound  in  duty  and  interest  to  take,  a neutral  posi- 
tion. Having  taken  it,  I determined,  as  far  as  should  depend  upon  me,  to 
maintain  it  with  moderation,  perseverance,  and  firmness. 

The  considerations  which  respect  the  right  to  hold  this  conduct  it  is  not 
necessary  on  this  occasion  to  detail.  I will  only  observe  that,  according  to  my 
understanding  of  the  matter,  that  right,  so  far  from  being  denied  by  any  of  the 
belligerent  powers,  has  been  virtually  admitted  by  all. 

The  duty  of  holding  a neutral  conduct  may  be  inferred,  without  anything 
more,  from  the  obligation  which  justice  and  humanity  impose  on  every  nation, 
in  cases  in  which  it  is  free  to  act,  to  maintain  inviolate  the  relations  of  peace 
and  amity  towards  other  nations. 

The  inducements  of  interest  for  observing  that  conduct  will  best  be  referred 
to  your  own  reflections  and  experience.  With  me,  a predominant  motive  has 
been  to  endeavor  to  gain  time  to  our  country  to  settle  and  mature  its  yet  recent 
institutions,  and  to  progress,  without  interruption,  to  that  degree  of  strength 


12 


Washington’s  farewell  address. 


and  consistency  which  is  necessary  to  give  it,  humanly  speaking,  the  command 
of  its  own  fortunes. 

Though,  in  reviewing  the  incidents  of  my  administration,  I am  unconscious  of 
intentional  error,  I am,  nevertheless,  too  sensible  of  my  defects  not  to  think  it 
probable  that  I may  have  committed  many  errors.  Whatever  they  may  be,  I 
fervently  beseech  the  Almighty  to  avert  or  mitigate  the  evils  to  which  they  may 
tend.  I shall  also  carry  with  me  the  hope  that  my  country  will  never  cease 
to  view  them  with  indulgence;  and  that,  after  forty-five  years  of  my  life  dedi- 
cated to  its  service,  with  an  upright  zeal,  the  faults  of  incompetent  abilities  will 
be  consigned  to  oblivion,  as  myself  must  soon  be  to  the  mansions  of  rest. 

Relying  on  its  kindness  in  this  as  in  other  things,  and  actuated  by  that 
fervent  love  towards  it  which  is  so  natural  to  a man  who  views  in  it  the  native 
soil  of  himself  and  his  progenitors  for  several  generations,  I anticipate  with 
pleasing  expectation  that  retreat  in  which  I promise  myself  to  realize,  without 
alloy,  the  sweet  enjoyment  of  partaking,  in  the  midst  of  my  fellow-citizens, 
the  benign  influence  of  good  laws  under  a free  government — the  ever  favorite 
object  of  my  heart,  and  the  happy  reward,  as  I trust,  of  our  mutual  cares, 
labors,  and  dangers. 

GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

United  States,  September  17,  1796. 


PROCLAMATION 


AND’W  JACKSON,  PRESIDENT  UNITED  STATES, 

AGAINST 

NULLIFICATION. 


DECEMBER  10,  1832. 


Whereas  a convention  assembled  in  the  State  of  South  Carolina  have  passed 
an  ordinance,  by  which  they  declare  “ That  the  several  acts  and  parts  of  acts  of 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  purporting  to  be  laws  for  the  imposing 
of  duties  and  imposts  on  the  importation  of  foreign  commodities,  and  now  having 
actual  operation  and  effect  within  the  United  States,  and  more  especially,”  two 
acts  for  the  same  purposes  passed  on  the  29th  of  May,  1828,  and  on  the  14th 
of  July,  1832,  “ are  unauthorized  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and 
violate  the  true  meaning  and  intent  thereof,  and  are  null  and  void,  and  no  law,” 
nor  binding  on  the  citizens  of  that  State  or  its  officers ; and  by  said  ordinance, 
it  is  further  declared  to  be  unlawful  for  any  of  the  constituted  authorities  of  the 
State  or  of  the  United  States  to  enforce  the  payment  of  the  duties  imposed  by 
the  said  acts  within  the  same  State,  and  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  legislature  to 
pass  such  laws  as  may  be  necessary  to  give  full  effect  to  the  said  ordinance ; 

And  whereas,  by  the  said  ordinance,  it  is  further  ordained,  that  in  no  case  of  law 
or  equity  decided  in  the  courts  of  said  State,  wherein  shall  be  drawn  in  question 
the  validity  of  the  said  ordinance,  or  of  the  acts  of  the  legislature  that  may  be 
passed  to  give  it  effect,  or  of  the  said  laws  of  the  United  States,  no  appeal  shall 
be  allowed  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  nor  shall  any  copy  of 
the  record  be  permitted  or  allowed  for  that  purpose,  and  that  any  person  attempt- 
ing to  take  such  appeal  shall  be  punished  as  for  a contempt  of  court ; 

And,  finally,  the  said  ordinance  declares  that  the  people  of  South  Carolina 
will  maintain  the  said  ordinance  at  every  hazard ; and  that  they  will  consider 
the  passage  of  any  act  by  Congress  abolishing  or  closing  the  ports  o^  the  said 
State,  or  otherwise  obstructing  the  free  ingress  or  egress  of  vessels  to  and  from 
the  said  ports,  or  any  other  act  of  the  federal  government  to  coerce  the  State, 
shut  up  her  ports,  destroy  or  harass  her  commerce,  or  to  enforce  the  said  acts 
otherwise  than  through  the  civil  tribunals  of  the  country,  as  inconsistent  with 
the  longer  continuance  of  South  Carolina  in  the  Union;  and  that  the  people  of 
the  said  State  will  thenceforth  hold  themselves  absolved  from  all  further  obliga- 
tion to  maintain  or  preserve  their  political  connexion  with  the  people  of  the 
other  States,  and  will  forthwith  proceed  to  organize  a separate  government,  and 
do  all  other  acts  and  things  which  sovereign  and  independent  States  may  of 
right  do. 


14 


PROCLAMATION  OF  PRESIDENT  JACKSON. 


And  whereas  the  said  ordinance  prescribes  to  the  people  of  South  Carolina  a 
course  of  conduct  in  direct  violation  of  their  duty  as  citizens  of  the  United 
States,  contrary  to  the  laws  of  their  country,  subversive  of  its  Constitution,  and 
having  for  its  object  the  destruction  of  the  Union,  that  Union  which,  coeval 
with  our  political  existence,  led  our  fathers,  without  any  other  ties  to  unite  them 
than  those  of  patriotism  and  a common  cause,  through  a sanguinary  struggle  to 
a glorious  independence ; that  sacred  Union,  hitherto  inviolate,  which,  perfected 
by  our  happy  Constitution,  has  brought  us,  by  the  favor  of  heaven,  to  a state  of 
prosperity  at  home,  and  high  consideration  abroad,  rarely,  if  ever,  equalled  in 
the  history  of  nations.  To  preserve  this  bond  of  our  political  existence  from 
destruction,  to  maintain  inviolate  this  state  of  national  honor  and  prosperity,  and 
to  justify  the  confidence  my  fellow-citizens  have  reposed  in  me,  I,  Andrew 
Jackson,  President  of  the  United  States,  have  thought  proper  to  issue  this  my 
proclamation,  stating  my  views  of  the  Constitution  and  laws  applicable  to  the 
measures  adopted  by  the  convention  of  South  Carolina,  and  to  the  reasons  they 
have  put  forth  to  sustain  them,  declaring  the  course  which  duty  will  require  me 
to  pursue,  and  appealing  to  the  understanding  and  patriotism  of  the  people, 
warn  them  of  the  consequences  that  must  inevitably  result  from  an  observance 
of  the  dictates  of  the  convention. 

Strict  duty  would  require  of  me  nothing  more  than  the  exercise  of  those 
powers  with  which  I am  now,  or  may  hereafter  be  invested,  for  preserving  the 
peace  of  the  Union,  and  for  the  execution  of  the  laws.  But  the  imposing  aspect 
which  opposition  has  assumed  in  this  case,  by  clothing  itself  with  State  authority, 
and  the  deep  interest  which  the  people  of  the  United  States  must  all  feel  in 
preventing  a resort  to  stronger  measures,  while  there  is  a hope  that  anything 
will  be  yielded  to  reasoning  and  remonstrance,  perhaps  demand,  and  will  certainly 
justify,  a full  exposition  to  South  Carolina  and  the  nation  of  the  views  I enter- 
tain of  this  important  question,  as  well  as  a distinct  enunciation  of  the  course 
which  my  sense  of  duty  will  require  me  to  pursue. 

The  ordinance  is  founded,  not  on  the  indefeasible  right  of  resisting  acts  which 
are  plainly  unconstitutional,  and  too  oppressive  to  be  endured,  but  on  the  strange 
position  that  any  one  State  may  not  only  declare  an  act  of  Congress  void,  but 
prohibit  its  execution  ; that  they  may  do  this  consistently  with  the  Constitution ; 
that  the  true  construction  of  that  instrument  permits  a State  to  retain  its  place 
in  the  Union,  and  yet  be  bound  by  no  other  of  its  laws  than  those  it  may  choose 
to  consider  as  constitutional.  It  is  true,  they  add,  that  to  justify  this  abroga- 
tion of  a law,  it  must  be  palpably  contrary  to  the  Constitution ; but  it  is  evident 
that,  to  give  the  right  of  resisting  laws  of  that  description,  coupled  with  the 
uncontrolled  right  to  decide  what  laws  deserve  that  character,  is  to  give  the 
power  of  resisting  all  laws.  For,  as  hy  the  theory,  there  is  no  appeal,  the 
reasons  alleged  by  the  State,  good  or  bad,  must  prevail.  If  it  should  be  said 
that  public  opinion  is  a sufficient  check  against  the  abuse  of  this  power,  it  may 
be  asked  why  it  is  not  deemed  a sufficient  guard  against  the  passage  of  an  uncon- 
stitutional act  by  Congress  ? There  is,  however,  a restraint  in  this  last  case, 
which  makes  the  assumed  power  of  a State  more  indefensible,  and  which  does 
not  exist  in  the  other.  There  are  two  appeals  from  an  unconstitutional  act 
passed  hy  Congress — one  to  the  judiciary,  the  other  to  the  people  and  the 
States.  There  is  no  appeal  from  the  State  decision  in  theory,  and  the  practical 
illustration  shows  that  the  courts  are  closed  against  an  application  to  review  it, 
both  judges  and  jurors  being  sworn  to  decide  in  its  favor.  But  reasoning  on 
this  subject  is  superfluous,  when  our  social  compact,  in  express  terms,  declares 
that  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  its  Constitution,  and  treaties  made  under  it, 
are  the  supreme  law  of  the  land;  and,  for  greater  caution,  adds  “that  the 
judges  in  every  State  shall  be  bound  thereby,  anything  in  the  Constitution  or 
laws  of  any  State  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.”  And  it  may  be  asserted 
without  fear  of  refutation,  that  no  federative  government  could  exist  without  a 


PROCLAMATION  OF  PRESIDENT  JACKSON. 


15 


similar  provision.  Look  for  a moment  to  the  consequence.  If  South  Carolina 
considers  the  revenue  laws  unconstitutional,  and  has  a right  to  prevent  their 
execution  in  the  port  of  Charleston,  there  would  be  a clear  constitutional  objec- 
tion to  their  collection  in  every  other  port,  and  no  revenue  could  be  collected 
anywhere,  for  all  imposts  must  be  equal.  It  is  no  answer  to  repeat  that  an 
unconstitutional  law  is  no  law,  so  long  as  the  question  of  its  legality  is  to  be 
decided  by  the  State  itself;  for  every  law  operating  injuriously  upon  any  local 
interest  will  be  perhaps  thought,  and  certainly  represented,  as  unconstitutional, 
and,  as  has  been  shown,  there  k no  appeal. 

If  this  doctrine  had  been  established  at  an  earlier  day  the  Union  would  have 
been  dissolved  in  its  infancy.  The  excise  law  in  Pennsylvania,  the  embargo 
and  non-intercourse  law  in  the  eastern  States,  the  carriage  tax  in  Virginia,  were 
all  deemed  unconstitutional,  and  were  more  unequal  in  their  operation  than  any 
of  the  laws  now  complained  of;  but  fortunately  none  of  those  States  discovered 
that  they  had  the  right  now  claimed  by  South  Carolina.  The  war  into  which 
we  were  forced  to  support  the  dignity  of  the  nation  and  the  rights  of  our  citizens 
might  have  ended  in  defeat  and  disgrace  instead  of  victory  and  honor,  if  the 
States  who  supposed  it  a ruinous  and  unconstitutional  measure  had  thought 
they  possessed  the  right  of  nullifying  the  act  by  which  it  was  declared,  and 
denying  supplies  for  its  prosecution.  Hardly  and  unequally  as  those  measures 
bore  upon  several  members  of  the  Union,  to  the  legislatures  of  none  did  this 
efficient  and  peaceable  remedy,  as  it  is  called,  suggest  itself.  The  discovery  of 
this  important  feature  in  our  Constitution  was  reserved  to  the  present  day.  To 
the  statesmen  of  South  Carolina  belongs  the  invention,  and  upon  the  citizens  of 
that  State  will  unfortunately  fall  the  evils  of  reducing  it  to  practice. 

If  the  doctrine  of  a State  veto  upon  the  laws  of  the  Union  carries  with  it 
internal  evidence  of  its  impracticable  absurdity,  our  constitutional  history  will 
also  afford  abundant  proof  that  it  would  have  been  repudiated  with  indignation 
had  it  been  proposed  to  form  a feature  in  our  government. 

In  our  colonial  state,  although  dependent  on  another  power,  we  very  early 
considered  ourselves  as  connected  by  common  interest  with  each  other.  Leagues 
were  formed  for  common  defence,  and  before  the  declaration  of  independence 
we  were  known  in  our  aggregate  character  as  the  United  Colonies  of 
America.  That  decisive  and  important  step  was  taken  jointly.  We  declared 
ourselves  a nation  by  a joint,  not  by  several  acts,  and  when  the  terms  of  our 
confederation  were  reduced  to  form,  it  was  in  that  of  a solemn  league  of  several 
States,  by  which  they  agreed  that  they  would  collectively  form  one  nation  for 
the  purpose  of  conducting  some  certain  domestic  concerns  and  all  foreign  rela- 
tions. In  the  instrument  forming  that  Union  is  found  an  article  which  declares 
that1  “every  State  shall  abide  by  the  determinations  of  Congress  on  all  questions 
which,  by  that  confederation,  should  be  submitted  to  them.” 

Under  the  confederation,  then,  no  State  could  legally  annul  a decision  of  the 
Congress  or  refuse  to  submit  to  its  execution ; but  no  provision  was  made  to 
enforce  these  decisions.  Congress  made  requisitions,  but  they  were  not  com- 
plied with.  The  government  could  not  operate  on  individuals.  They  had  no 
judiciary,  no  means  of  collecting  revenue. 

But  the  defects  of  the  confederation  need  not  be  detailed.  Under  its  opera- 
tion we  could  scarcely  be  called  a nation.  We  had  neither  prosperity  at  home 
nor  consideration  abroad.  This  state  of  things  could  not  be  endured,  and  our 
present  happy  Constitution  was  formed,  but  formed  in  vain,  if  this  fatal  doc- 
trine prevails.  It  was  formed  for  important  objects  that  are  announced  in  the 
preamble  made  in  the  name  and  by  the  authority  of  the  people  of  the  United 
States,  whose  delegates  framed  and  whose  conventions  approved  it.  The  most 
important  among  these  objects,  that  which  k placed  first  in  rank,  on  which  all 
the  others  rest,  is,  “ to  form  a more  perfect  Union”  Now,  is  it  possible  that 


16 


PROCLAMATION  OF  PRESIDENT  JACKSON. 


even  if  there  were  no  express  provision  giving  supremacy  to  the  Constitution 
and  laws  of  the  United  States  over  those  of  the  States,  can  it  be  conceived 
that  an  instrument  made  for  the  purpose  of  “ forming  a more  perfect  Union ” 
than  that  of  the  confederation,  could  be  so  constructed  by  the  assembled  wisdom 
of  our  ( ountry  as  to  substitute  for  that  confederation  a form  of  government  de- 
pendent for  its  existence  on  the  local  interest,  the  party  spirit  of  a State,  or  ot 
a prevailing  faction  in  a State  ? Every  man  of  plain,  unsophisticated  under- 
standing, who  hears  the  question,  will  give  such  an  answer  as  will  preserve  the 
Union.  Metaphysical  subtlety,  in  pursuit  of  an  impracticable  theory,  could 
alone  have  devised  one  that  is  calculated  to  destroy  it. 

I consider,  then,  the  power  to  annul  a law  of  the  United  States,  assumed  by 
one  State,  incompatible  with  the  existence  of  the  Union,  contradicted 

EXPRESSLY  BY  THE  LETTER  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION,  UNAUTHORIZED  BY  ITS 
SPIRIT,  INCONSISTENT  WITH  EVERY  PRINCIPLE  ON  WHICH  IT  WAS  FOUNDED, 
AND  DESTRUCTIVE  OF  THE  GREAT  OBJECT  FOR  WHICH  IT  WAS  FORMED. 

After  this  general  view  of  the  leading  principle,  we  must  examine  the  par- 
ticular application  of  it  which  is  made  in  the  ordinance. 

The  preamble  rests  its  j ustification  on  these  grounds  : It  assumes  as  a fact 
that  the  obnoxious  laws,  although  they  purport  to  be  laws  for  raising  revenue, 
were  in  reality  intended  for  the  protection  of  manufactures,  which  purpose  it 
asserts  to  be  unconstitutional ; that  the  operation  of  these  laws  is  unequal ; that 
the  amount  raised  by  them  is  greater  than  is  required  by  the  wants  of  the 
government ; and,  finally,  that  the  proceeds  are  to  be  applied  to  objects  un- 
authorized by  the  Constitution.  These  are  the  only  causes  alleged  to  justify  an 
open  opposition  to  the  laws  of  the  country,  and  a threat  of  seceding  from  the 
Union  if  any  attempt  should  be  made  to  enforce  them.  The  first  virtually  ac- 
knowledges that  the  law  in  question  was  passed  under  a power  expressly  given 
by  the  Constitution  to  lay  and  collect  imposts ; but  its  constitutionality  is  drawn 
in  question  from  the  motives  of  those  who  passed  it.  However  apparent  this 
purpose  may  be  in  the  present  case,  nothing  can  be  more  dangerous  than  to 
admit  the  position  that  an  unconstitutional  purpose,  entertained  by  the  mem- 
bers who  assent  to  a law  enacted  under  a constitutional  power,  shall  make  that 
law  void ; for  how  is  that  purpose  to  be  ascertained  ? Who  is  to  make  the 
scrutiny  1 How  often  may  bad  purposes  be  falsely  imputed ! in  how  many 
cases  are  they  concealed  by  false  professions  ! in  how  many  is  no  declaration  of 
motive  made  ! Admit  this  doctrine,  and  you  give  to  the  States  an  uncontrolled 
right  to  decide,  and  every  law  may  be  annulled  under  this  pretext.  If,  there- 
fore, the  absurd  and  dangerous  doctrine  should  be  admitted  that  a State  may 
annul  an  unconstitutional  law,  or  one  that  it  deems  such,  it  will  not  apply  to 
the  present  case. 

The  next  objection  is,  that  the  laws  in  question  operate  unequally.  This  ob- 
jection may  be  made  with  truth  to  every  law  that  has  been  or  can  be  passed. 
The  wisdom  of  man  never  yet  contrived  a system  of  taxation  that  would  ope- 
rate with  perfect  equality.  If  the  unequal  operation  of  a law  makes  it  uncon- 
stitutional, and  if  all  laws  of  that  description  may  be  abrogated  by  any  State 
for  that  cause,  then  indeed  is  the  federal  Constitution  unworthy  of  the  slightest 
effort  for  its  preservation.  We  have  hitherto  relied  on  it  as  the  perpetual  bond 
of  our  Union.  We  have  received  it  as  the  work  of  the  assembled  wisdom  of 
the  nation.  We  have  trusted  to  it  as  to  the  sheet-anchor  of  our  safety  in  the 
stormy  times  of  conflict  with  a foreign  or  domestic  foe.  We  have  looked  to  it 
with  sacred  awe  as  the  palladium  of  our  liberties,  and  with  all  the  solemnities 
of  religion  have  pledged  to  each  other  our  lives  and  fortunes  here  and  our  hopes 
of  happiness  hereafter,  in  its  defence  and  support.  Were  we  mistaken,  my 
countrymen,  in  attaching  this  importance  to  the  Constitution  of  our  country  ? 
Was  our  devotion  paid  to  the  wretched,  inefficient,  clumsy  contrivance  which 
this  new  doctrine  would  make  it  1 Hid  we  pledge  ourselves  to  the  support  of 


PROCLAMATION  OF  PRESIDENT  JACKSON. 


17 


an  airy  nothing — a bubble  that  must  be  blown  away  by  the  first  breath  of  dis- 
affection ? Was  this  self-destroying,  visionary  theory  the  work  of  the  profound 
statesmen,  the  exalted  patriots,  to  whom  the  task  of  constitutional  reform  was 
intrusted?  Did  the  name  of  Washington  sanction — did  the  States  deliberately 
ratify  such  an  anomaly  in  the  history  of  fundamental  legislation?  No.  We 
were  not  mistaken.  The  letter  of  this  great  instrument  is  free  from  this  radical 
fault;  its  language  directly  contradicts  the  imputation;  its  spirit,  its  evident 
intent,  contradicts  it.  No,  we  did  not  err.  Our  Constitution  does  not  contain 
the  absurdity  of  giving  power  to  make  laws,  and  another  power  to  resist  them. 
The  sages,  whose  memory  will  always  be  reverenced,  have  given  us  a practical, 
and,  as  they  hoped,  a permanent  constitutional  compact.  The  Father  of  his 
Country  did  not  affix  his  revered  name  to  so  palpable  an  absurdity.  Nor  did 
the  States,  when  they  severally  ratified  it,  do  so  under  the  impression  that  a 
veto  on  the  laws  of  the  United  States  was  reserved  to  them,  or  that  they  could 
exercise  it  by  implication.  Search  the  debates  in  all  their  conventions ; examine 
the  speeches  of  the  most  zealous  opposers  of  federal  authority ; look  at  the 
amendments  that  were  proposed.  They  are  all  silent : not  a syllable  uttered, 
not  a vote  given,  not  a motion  made  to  correct  the  explicit  supremacy  given  to 
the  laws  of  the  Union  over  those  of  the  States,  or  to  show  that  implication,  as 
is  now  contended,  could  defeat  it.  No,  we  have  not  erred.  The  Constitution 
is  still  the  object  of  our  reverence,  the  bond  of  our  Union,  our  defence  in  danger, 
the  source  of  our  prosperity  in  peace : it  shall  descend  as  we  have  received  it, 
uncorrupted  by  sophistical  construction,  to  our  posterity ; and  the  sacrifices  of 
local  interest,  of  State  prejudices,  of  personal  animosities,  that  were  made  to 
bring  it  into  existence,  will  again  be  patriotically  offered  for  its  support. 

The  two  remaining  objections  made  by  the  ordinance  to  these  laws  are,  that 
the  sums  intended  to  be  raised  by  them  are  greater  than  are  required,  and  that 
the  proceeds  will  be  unconstitutionally  employed. 

The  Constitution  lias  given  expressly  to  Congress  the  right  of  raising  revenue, 
and  of  determining  the  sum  the  public  exigencies  will  require.  The  States 
have  no  control  over  the  exercise  of  this  right  other  than  that  which  results 
from  the  power  of  changing  the  representatives  who  abuse  it,  and  thus  procure 
redress.  Congress  may,  undoubtedly,  abuse  this  discretionary  power,  but  the 
same  may  be  said  of  others  with  which  they  are  vested.  Yet  the  discretion 
must  exist  somewhere.  The  Constitution  has  given  it  to  the  representatives  of 
all  the  people,  checked  by  the  representatives  of  the  States  and  by  the  Execu- 
tive power.  The  South  Carolina  construction  gives  it  to  the  legislature  or  the 
convention  of  a single  State,  where  neither  the  people  of  the  different  States, 
nor  the  States  in  their  separate  capacity,  nor  the  Chief  Magistrate  elected  by 
the  people,  have  any  representation.  Which  is  the  most  discreet  disposition  of 
the  power  ? I do  not  ask  you,  fellow-citizens,  which  is  the  constitutional  dis- 
position ; that  instrument  speaks  a language  not  to  be  misunderstood.  But  if 
you  were  assembled  in  general  convention,  which  would  you  think  the  safest 
depository  of  this  discretionary  power  in  the  last  resort?  Would  you  add  a 
clause  giving  it  to  each  of  the  States,  or  would  you  sanction  the  wise  provisions 
already  made  by  your  Constitution  ? If  this  should  be  the  result  of  your  de- 
liberations when  providing  for  the  future,  are  you,  can  you  be  ready  to  risk  all 
that  we  hold  dear  to  establish,  for  a temporary  and  a local  purpose,  that  which 
you  must  acknowledge  to  be  destructive,  and  even  absurd,  as  a general  pro- 
vision ? Carry  out  the  consequences  of  this  right  vested  in  the  different  States, 
and  you  must  perceive  that  the  crisis  your  conduct  presents  at  this  day  would 
recur  whenever  any  law  of  the  United  States  displeased  any  of  the  States,  and 
that  we  should  soon  cease  to  be  a nation. 

The  ordinance,  with  the  same  knowledge  of  the  future  that  characterizes  a 
former  objection,  tells  you  that  the  proceeds  of  the  tax  will  be  unconstitution- 
ally applied.  If  this  could  be  ascertained  with  certainty,  the  objection  would, 

2 


18 


PROCLAMATION  OF  PRESIDENT  JACKSON. 


with  more  propriety,  he  reserved  for  the  law  so  applying  the  proceeds,  but 
surely  cannot  he  urged  against  the  laws  levying  the  duty. 

These  are  the  allegations  contained  in  the  ordinance.  Examine  them  seri- 
ously, my  fellow-citizens — -judge  for  yourselves.  I appeal'  to  you  to  determine 
whether  they  are  so  clear,  so  convincing,  as  to  leave  no  doubt  of  their  correct- 
ness ; and  even  if  you  should  come  to  this  conclusion,  how  far  they  justify  the 
reckless,  destructive  course  which  you  are  directed  to  pursue.  Review  these 
objections,  and  the  conclusions  drawn  from  them,  once  more.  What  are  they  ? 
Every  law,  then,  for  raising  revenue,  according  to  the  South  Carolina  ordinance, 
may  be  rightfully  annulled,  unless  it  be  so  framed  as  no  law  ever  will  or  can 
be  framed.  Congress  has  a right  to  pass  laws  for  raising  revenue,  and  each 
State  has  a right  to  oppose  their  execution — two  rights  directly  opposed  to  each 
other ; and  yet  is  this  absurdity  supposed  to  be  contained  in  an  instrument 
drawn  for  the  express  purpose  of  avoiding  collisions  between  the  States  and  the 
general  government,  by  an  assembly  of  the  most  enlightened  statesmen  and 
purest  patriots  ever  embodied  for  a similar  purpose. 

In  vain  have  these  sages  declared  that  Congress  shall  have  power  to  lay  and 
collect  taxes,  duties,  imposts,  and  excises ; in  vain  have  they  provided  that 
they  shall  have  power  to  pass  laws  which  shall  be  necessary  and  proper  to 
carry  those  powers  into  execution ; that  those  laws  and  that  Constitution  shall 
be  the  “supreme  law  of  the  land,  and  that  the  judges  in  every  State  shall  be 
bound  thereby,  anything  in  the  constitution  or  laws  of  any  State  to  the  con- 
trary notwithstanding.”  In  vain  have  the  people  of  the  several  States  solemnly 
sanctioned  these  provisions,  made  them  their  paramount  law,  and  individually 
sworn  to  support  them  whenever  they  were  called  on  to  execute  any  office. 
Vain  provisions  ! ineffectual  restrictions  ! vile  profanation  of  oaths  ! miserable 
mockery  of  legislation  ! if  a bare  majority  of  the  voters  in  any  one  State  may, 
on  a real  or  supposed  knowledge  of  the  intent  with  which  a law  has  been  passed, 
declare  themselves  free  from  its  operation — say  here  it  gives  too  little,  there  too 
much,  and  operates  unequally ; here  it  suffers  articles  to  be  free  that  ought  to 
be  taxed — there  it  taxes  those  that  ought  to  be  free ; in  this  case  the  proceeds 
are  intended  to  be  applied  to  purposes  which  we  do  not  approve — in  that  the 
amount  raised  is  more  than  is  wanted. 

Congress,  it  is  true,  is  invested  by  the  Constitution  with  the  right  of  deciding 
these  questions  according  to  its  sound  discretion.  Congress  is  composed  of  the 
representatives  of  all  the  States,  and  of  all  the  people  of  all  the  States ; but 
we,  part  of  the  people  of  one  State,  to  whom  the  Constitution  has  given  no 
power  on  the  subject,  from  whom  it  has  expressly  taken  it  away — we,  who  have 
solemnly  agreed  that  this  Constitution  shall  be  our  law — ice,  most  of  whom  have 
sworn  to  support  it — we  now  abrogate  this  law,  and  swear,  and  force  others  to 
swear,  that  it  shall  not  be  obeyed.  And  we  do  this  not  because  Congress  have 
no  right  to  pass  such  laws — this  we  do  not  allege — but  because  they  have 
passed  them  with  improper  views.  They  are  unconstitutional  from  the  motives 
of  those  who  passed  them,  which  we  can  never  with  certainty  know ; from 
their  unequal  operation,  although  it  is  impossible,  from  the  nature  of  things, 
that  they  should  be  equal;  and  from  the  disposition  which  we  presume  may  be 
made  of  tlieir  proceeds,  although  that  disposition  has  not  been  declared.  This 
is  the  plain  meaning  of  the  ordinance  in  relation  to  laws  which  it  abrogates  for 
alleged  unconstitutionality.  But  it  does  not  stop  there.  It  repeals,  in  express 
terms,  an  important  part  of  the  Constitution  itself,  and  of  laws  passed  to  give  it 
effect,  which  have  never  been  alleged  to  be  unconstitutional.  The  Constitution 
declares  that  the  judicial  powers  of  the  United  States  extend  to  cases  arising 
under  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  and  that  such  laws,  the  Constitution  and 
treaties,  shall  be  paramount  to  the  State  constitutions  and  laws.  The  judiciary 
act  prescribes  the  mode  by  which  the  case  may  be  brought  before  a court  of  the 
United  States,  by  appeal,  when  a State  tribunal  shall  decide  against  this  pro- 


PROCLAMATION  OF  PRESIDENT  JACKSON. 


19 


vision  of  the  Constitution.  The  ordinance  declares  there  shall  be  no  appeal ; 
makes  the  State  law  paramount  to  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the  United 
States ; forces  judges  and  jurors  to  swear  that  they  will  disregard  their  pro- 
visions ; and  even  makes  it  penal  in  a suitor  to  attempt  relief  by  appeal.  It  fur- 
ther declares  that  it  shall  not  be  lawful  for  the  authorities  of  the  United  States, 
or  of  that  State,  to  enforce  the  payment  of  duties  imposed  by  the  revenue  laws 
within  its  limits. 

Here  is  a law  of  the  United  States,  not  even  pretended  to  be  unconstitutional, 
repealed  by  the  authority  of  a small  majority  of  the  voters  of  a single  State. 
Here  is  a provision  of  the  Constitution  which  is  solemnly  abrogated  by  the 
same  authority. 

On  such  expositions  and  reasonings  the  ordinance  grounds  not  only  an  asser- 
tion of  the  right  to  annul  the  laws  of  which  it  complains,  but  to  enforce  it  by  a 
threat  of  seceding  from  the  Union  if  any  attempt  is  made  to  execute  them. 

This  right  to  secede  is  deduced  from  the  nature  of  the  Constitution,  which, 
they  say,  is  a compact  between  sovereign  States,  who  have  preserved  their 
whole  sovereignty,  and  therefore  are  subject  to  no  superior ; that,  because  they 
made  the  compact  they  can  break  it  when,  in  their  opinion,  it  has  been  departed 
from  by  the  other  States.  Fallacious  as  this  course  of  reasoning  is,  it  enlists 
State  pride,  and  finds  advocates  in  the  honest  prejudices  of  those  who  have  not 
studied  the  nature  of  our  government  sufficiently  to  see  the  radical  error  on 
which  it  rests. 

The  people  of  the  United  States  formed  the  Constitution,  acting  through  the 
State  legislatures  in  making  the  compact,  to  meet  and  discuss  its  provisions,  and 
acting  in  separate  conventions  when  they  ratified  those  provisions ; but  the  terms 
used  in  its  construction  show  it  to  be  a government  in  which  the  people  of  the 
States  collectively  are  represented.  We  are  one  people  in  the  choice  of  the 
President  and  Vice-President.  Here  the  States  have  no  other  agency  than  to 
direct  the  mode  in  which  the  votes  shall  be  given.  The  candidates  having  the 
majority  of  all  the  votes  are  chosen.  The  electors  of  a majority  of  States  may 
have  given  their  votes  for  one  candidate,  and  yet  another  may  be  chosen.  The 
people,  then,  and  not  the  States,  are  represented  in  the  executive  branch. 

In  the  House  of  Representatives  there  is  this  difference,  that  the  people  of 
one  State  do  not,  as  in  the  case  of  President  and  Vice-President,  all  vote  for 
the  same  officers.  The  people  of  all  the  States  do  not  vote  for  all  the  members, 
each  State  electing  only  its  own  representatives.  But  this  creates  no  material 
distinction.  When  chosen,  they  are  all  representatives  of  the  United  States, 
not  representatives  of  the  particular  State  from  which  they  come.  They  are 
paid  by  the  United  States,  not  by  the  State,  nor  are  they  accountable  to  it  for 
any  act  done  in  the  performance  of  their  legislative  functions ; and  however 
they  may  in  practice,  as  it  is  their  duty  to  do,  consult  and  prefer  the  interests 
of  their  particular  constituents  when  they  come  in  conflict  with  any  other  par- 
tial or  local  interest,  yet  it  is  their  first  and  highest  duty,  as  representatives  of 
the  United  States,  to  promote  the  general  good. 

The  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  then,  forms  a government,  not  a league, 
and  whether  it  be  formed  by  compact  between  the  States  or  in  any  other  man- 
ner, its  character  is  the  same.  It  is  a government  in  which  all  the  people  are 
represented,  which  operates  directly  on  the  people  individually,  not  upon  the 
States — they  retained  all  the  power  they  did  not  grant.  But  each  State  having 
expressly  parted  with  so  many  powers  as  to  constitute,  jointly  with  the  other 
States,  a single  nation,  cannot  from  that  period  possess  any  right  to  secede,  be- 
cause such  secession  does  not  break  a league,  but  destroys  the  unity  of  a nation, 
and  any  injury  to  that  unity  is  not  only  a breach  which  would  result  from  the 
contravention  of  a compact,  but  it  is  an  offence  against  the  whole  Union.  To 
say  that  any  State  may  at  pleasure  secede  from  the  Union  is  to  say  that  the 
United  States  are  not  a nation,  because  it  would  be  a solecism  to  contend  that 


20 


PROCLAMATION  OF  PRESIDENT  JACKSON. 


any  part  of  a nation  might  dissolve  its  connexion  with  the  other  parts,  to  their 
injury  or  ruin,  without  committing  any  offence.  Secession,  like  any  other  revo- 
lutionary act,  may  be  morally  justified  by  the  extremity  of  oppression ; hut  to 
call  it  a constitutional  right  is  confounding  the  meaning  of  terms,  and  can  only 
he  done  through  gross  error,  or  to  deceive  those  who  are  willing  to  assert  a right, 
hut  would  pause  before  they  made  a revolution,  or  incur  the  penalties  consequent 
on  a failure. 

Because  the  Union  was  formed  hy  compact,  it  is  said  the  parties  to  that  com- 
pact may,  when  they  feel  themselves  aggrieved,  depart  from  it ; hut  it  is  pre- 
cisely because  it  is  a compact  that  they  cannot.  A compact  is  an  agreement  or 
binding  obligation.  It  may  by  its  terms  have  a sanction  or  penalty  for  its 
breach,  or  it  may  not.  If  it  contains  no  sanction,  it  may  be  broken  with  no 
other  consequence  than  moral  guilt;  if  it  have  a sanction,  then  the  breach  insures 
the  designated  or  implied  penalty.  A league  between  independent  nations  gen- 
erally has  no  sanction  other  than  a moral  one ; or  if  it  should  contain  a penalty, 
as  there  is  no  common  superior,  it  cannot  be  enforced.  A government,  on  the 
contrary,  always  has  a sanction,  express  or  implied,  and  in  our  case  it  is  both 
necessarily  implied  and  expressly  given.  An  attempt,  by  force  of  arms,  to  de- 
stroy a government  is  an  offence  by  whatever  means  the  constitutional  compact 
may  have  been  formed,  and  such  government  has  the  right,  by  the  law  of  self- 
defence,  to  pass  acts  for  punishing  the  offender,  unless  that  right  is  modified, 
restrained,  or  resumed  by  the  constitutional  act.  In  our  system,  although  it  is 
modified  in  the  case  of  treason,  yet  authority  is  expressly  given  to  pass  all  laws 
necessary  to  carry  its  powers  into  effect,  and  under  this  grant  provision  has  been 
made  for  punishing  acts  which  obstruct  the  due  administration  of  the  laws. 

It  would  seem  superfluous  to  add  anything  to  show  the  nature  of  that  union 
which  connects  us ; but  as  erroneous  opinions  on  this  subject  are  the  foundation 
of  doctrines  the  most  destructive  to  our  peace,  I must  give  some  further  devel- 
opment to  my  views  on  this  subject.  No  one,  fellow-citizens,  has  a higher 
reverence  for  the  reserved  rights  of  the  States  than  the  magistrate  who  now 
addresses  you.  No  one  would  make  greater  personal  sacrifices  or  official  exer- 
tions to  defend  them  from  violation,  but  equal  care  must  be  taken  to  prevent  on 
their  part  an  improper  interference  with  or  resumption  of  the  rights  they  have 
vested  in  the  nation.  The  line  has  not  been  so  distinctly  drawn  as  to  avoid 
doubts  in  some  cases  of  the  exercise  of  power.  Men  of  the  best  intentions  and 
soundest  views  may  differ  in  their  construction  of  some  parts  of  the  Constitution, 
but  there  are  others  on  which  dispassionate  reflection  can  leave  no  doubt.  Of 
this  nature  appears  to  be  the  assumed  right  of  secession.  It  treats,  as  we  have 
seen,  on  the  alleged  undivided  sovereignty  of  the  States,  and  on  their  having 
formed,  in  this  sovereign  capacity,  a compact  which  is  called  the  Constitution, 
from  which,  because  they  made  it,  they  have  the  right  to  secede.  Both  of  these 
positions  are  erroneous,  and  some  of  the  arguments  to  prove  them  so  have  been 
anticipated. 

The  States  severally  have  not  retained  their  entire  sovereignty.  It  has  been 
shown  that  in  becoming  parts  of  a nation,  not  members  of  a league,  they  sur- 
rendered many  of  their  essential  parts  of  sovereignty.  The  right  to  make 
treaties,  declare  war,  levy  taxes,  exercise  exclusive  judicial  and  legislative  pow- 
ers, were  all  of  them  functions  of  sovereign  power.  The  States,  then,  for  all 
these  purposes,  were  no  longer  sovereign.  The  allegiance  of  their  citizens  was 
transferred  in  the  first  instance  to  the  government  of  the  United  States.  They 
became  American  citizens,  and  owed  obedience  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  and  to  laws  made  in  conformity  with  the  powers  it  vested  in  Congress. 
This  last  position  has  not  been  and  cannot  be  denied.  How,  then,  can  that 
State  be  said  to  be  sovereign  and  independent  whose  citizens  owe  obedience  to 
laws  not  made  by  it,  and  whose  magistrates  are  sworn  to  disregard  those  laws 
when  they  come  in  conflict  with  those  passed  by  another  ] What  shows  con- 


PROCLAMATION  OF  PRESIDENT  JACKSON. 


21 


clusively  that  the  States  cannot  he  said  to  have  reserved  an  undivided  sov- 
ereignty is,  that  they  expressly  ceded  the  right  to  punish  treason — not  treason 
against  their  separate  power,  hut  treason  against  the  United  States.  Treason  is 
an  offence  against  sovereignty , and  sovereignty  must  reside  with  the  power  to 
punish  it.  But  the  reserved  rights  of  the  States  are  not  less  sacred  because 
they  have,  for  their  common  interest,  made  the  general  government  the  depository 
of  these  powers. 

The  unity  of  our  political  character  (as  has  been  shown  for  another  purpose) 
commenced  with  its  very  existence.  Under  the  royal  government  we  had  no 
separate  character;  our  opposition  to  its  oppression  began  as  United  Colo- 
nies. We  were  the  United  States  under  the  confederation,  and  the  name 
was  perpetuated,  and  the  Union  rendered  more  perfect,  by  the  federal  Constitu- 
tion. In  none  of  these  stages  did  we  consider  ourselves  in  any  other  light  than 
as  forming  one  nation.  Treaties  and  alliances  were  made  in  the  name  of  all. 
Troops  were  raised  for  the  joint  defence.  How,  then,  with  all  these  proofs,  that 
under  all  changes  of  our  position  we  had,  for  designated  purposes  and  defined 
powers,  created  national  governments — how  is  it,  that  the  most  perfect  of  those 
several  modes  of  union  should  now  be  considered  as  a mere  league  that  may  be 
dissolved  at  pleasure  ? It  is  from  an  abuse  of  terms.  Compact  is  used  as  sy- 
nonymous with  league,  although  the  true  term  is  not  employed,  because  it  would 
at  once  show  the  fallacy  of  the  reasoning.  It  would  not  do  to  say  that  our 
Constitution  was  only  a league,  but  it  is  labored  to  prove  it  a compact,  (which 
in  one  sense  it  is,)  and  then  to  argue  that  as  a league  is  a compact,  every  com- 
pact between  nations  must,  of  course,  be  a league,  and  that  from  such  an  engage- 
ment every  sovereign  power  has  a right  to  recede.  But  it  has  been  shown  that, 
in  this  sense,  the  States  are  not  sovereign,  and  that  even  if  they  were,  and  the 
national  Constitution  had  been  formed  by  compact,  there  would  be  no  right  in 
any  one  State  to  exonerate  itself  from  its  obligations. 

So  obvious  are  the  reasons  which  forbid  this  secession,  that  it  is  necessary 
only  to  allude  to  them.  The  Union  was  formed  for  the  benefit  of  all.  It  was 
produced  by  mutual  sacrifices  of  interests  and  opinions.  Can  those  sacrifices  be 
recalled1?  Can  the  States,  who  magnanimously  surrendered  their  title  to  the 
territories  of  the  west,  recal  the  grant?  Will  the  inhabitants  of  the  inland  States 
agree  to  pay  the  duties  that  may  be  imposed  without  their  assent  by  those  on 
the  Atlantic  or  the  Gulf,  for  their  own  benefit?  Shall  there  be  a free  port  in 
one  State  and  onerous  duties  in  another?  No  one  believes  that  any  right  exists 
in  a single  State  to  involve  all  the  others  in  these  and  countless  other  evils  con- 
trary to  the  engagements  solemnly  made.  Every  one  must  see  that  the  other 
States,  in  self-defence,  must  oppose  it  at  all  hazards. 

These  are  the  alternatives  that  are  presented  by  the  convention : a repeal  of 
all  the  acts  for  raising  revenue,  leaving  the  government  without  the  means  of 
support,  or  an  acquiescence  in  the  dissolution  of  our  Union  by  the  secession  of 
one  of  its  members.  When  the  first  was  proposed,  it  was  known  that  it  could 
not  be  listened  to  for  a moment.  It  was  known,  if  force  was  applied  to  oppose 
the  execution  of  the  laws  that  it  must  be  repelled  by  force ; that  Congress  could 
not,  without  involving  itself  in  disgrace  and  the  country  in  ruin,  accede  to  the 
proposition;  and  yet  if  this  is  not  done  in  a given  day,  or  if  any  attempt  is  made 
to  execute  the  laws,  the  State  is,  by  the  ordinance,  declared  to  be  out  of  the 
Union.  The  majority  of  a convention  assembled  for  the  purpose  have  dictated 
these  terms,  or  rather  this  rejection  of  all  terms,  in  the  name  of  the  people  of 
South  Carolina.  It  is  true  that  the  governor  of  the  State  speaks  of  the  sub- 
mission of  their  grievances  to  a convention  of  all  the  States,  which,  he  says, 
they  “sincerely  and  anxiously  seek  and  desire.”  Yet  this  obvious  and  consti- 
tutional mode  of  obtaining  the  sense  of  the  other  States  on  the  construction  of 
the  federal  compact,  and  amending  it,  if  necessary,  has  never  been  attempted  by 
those  who  have  urged  the  State  on  to  this  destructive  measure.  The  State 


22 


PROCLAMATION  OF  PRESIDENT  JACKSON. 


might  have  proposed  the  call  for  a general  convention  to  the  other  States,  and 
Congress,  if  a sufficient  number  of  them  concurred,  must  have  called  it.  But 
the  first  magistrate  of  South  Carolina,  when  he  expressed  a hope  that,  “on  a 
review  by  Congress,  and  the  functionaries  of  the  general  government,  of  the 
merits  of  the  controversy,”  such  a convention  will  be  accorded  to  them,  must 
have  known  that  neither  Congress  nor  any  functionary  of  the  general  govern- 
ment has  authority  to  call  such  a convention,  unless  it  be  demanded  by  two- 
thirds  of  the  States.  This  suggestion,  then,  is  another  instance  of  the  reckless 
inattention  to  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution  with  which  this  crisis  has  been 
madly  hurried  on,  or  of  the  attempt  to  persuade  the  people  that  a constitutional 
remedy  had  been  sought  and  refused.  If  the  legislature  of  South  Carolina 
“anxiously  desire”  a general  convention  to  consider  their  complaints,  why  have 
they  not  made  application  for  it  in  the  way  the  Constitution  points  out  ? The 
assertion  that  they  “ earnestly  seek  it”  is  completely  negatived  by  the  omission. 

This,  then,  is  the  position  in  which  we  stand.  A small  majority  of  the  citi- 
zens of  one  State  in  the  Union  have  elected  delegates  to  a State  convention,  that 
convention  has  ordained  that  all  the  revenue  laws  of  the  United  States  must  be 
repealed,  or  that  they  are  no  longer  a member  of  the  Union.  The  governor  of 
that  State  has  recommended  to  the  legislature  the  raising  of  an  army  to  carry 
the  secession  into  effect,  and  that  he  may  be  empowered  to  give  clearances  to 
vessels  in  the  name  of  the  State.  No  act  of  violent  opposition  to  the  laws  has 
yet  been  committed,  but  such  a state  of  things  is  hourly  apprehended,  and  it  is 
the  intent  of  this  instrument  to  proclaim,  not  only  that  the  duty  imposed  on  me 
by  the  Constitution  “to  take  care  that  the  laws  be  faithfully  executed,”  shall  be 
performed  to  the  extent  of  the  powers  already  vested  in  me  by  law,  or  of  such 
others  as  the  wisdom  of  Congress  shall  devise  and  intrust  to  me  for  that  pur- 
pose, but  to  warn  the  citizens  of  South  Carolina  who  have  been  deluded  into  an 
opposition  to  the  laws,  of  the  danger  they  will  incur  by  obedience  to  the  illegal 
and  disorganizing  ordinance  of  the  convention;  to  exhort  those  who  have  re- 
fused to  support  it  to  persevere  in  their  determination  to  uphold  the  Constitution 
and  laws  of  their  country,  and  to  point  out  to  all  the  perilous  situation  into 
which  the  good  people  of  that  State  have  been  led,  and  that  the  course  they  are 
urged  to  pursue  is  one  of  ruin  and  disgrace  to  the  very  State  whose  rights  they 
affect  to  support. 

Fellow-citizens  of  my  native  State,  let  me  not  only  admonish  you,  as  the  first 
magistrate  of  our  common  country,  not  to  incur  the  penalty  of  its  laws,  but  use 
the  influence  that  a father  would  over  liis  children  whom  he  saw  rushing  to  cer- 
tain ruin.  In  that  paternal  language,  with  that  paternal  feeling,  let  me  tell  you, 
my  countrymen,  that  you  are  deluded  by  men  who  are  either  deceived  them- 
selves or  wish  to  deceive  you.  Mark  under  what  pretences  you  have  been  led 
on  to  the  brink  of  insurrection  and  treason,  on  which  you  stand!  First,  a 
diminution  of  the  value  of  your  staple  commodity,  lowered  by  over  production 
in  other  quarters,  and  the  consequent  diminution  in  the  value  of  your  lands,  were 
the  sole  effect  of  the  tariff  laws. 

The  effect  of  those  laws  was  confessedly  injurious,  but  the  evil  was  greatly 
exaggerated  by  the  unfounded  theory  you  were  taught  to  believe,  that  its  bur- 
dens were  in  proportion  to  your  exports,  not  to  your  consumption  of  imported 
articles.  Your  pride  was  roused  by  the  assertion  that  a submission  to  those  laws 
was  a state  of  vassalage,  and  that  resistance  to  them  was  equal,  in  patriotic 
merit,  to  the  oppositions  our  fathers  offered  to  the  oppressive  laws  of  Great 
Britain.  You  were  told  that  this  opposition  might  be  peaceably — might  be  con- 
stitutionally made;  that  you  might  enjoy  all  the  advantages  of  the  Union,  and 
bear  none  of  its  burdens.  Eloquent  appeals  to  your  passions,  to  your  State 
pride,  to  your  native  courage,  to  your  sense  of  real  injury,  were  used  to  prepare 
you  for  the  period  when  the  mask,  which  concealed  the  hideous  features  of  dis- 
union, should  be  taken  off.  It  fell,  and  you  were  made  to  look  with  complacency 


PROCLAMATION  OF  PRESIDENT  JACKSON. 


23 


on  objects  which,  not  long  since,  you  would  have  regarded  with  horror.  Look 
back  to  the  arts  which  have  brought  you  to  this  state ; look  forward  to  the  con- 
-scquences  to  which  it  must  inevitably  lead ! Look  back  to  what  was  first  told  you 
as  an  inducement  to  enter  into  this  dangerous  course.  The  great  political  truth 
was  repeated  to  you,  that  you  had  the  revolutionary  right  of  resisting  all  laws 
that  were  palpably  unconstitutional  and  intolerably  oppressive ; it  was  added 
that  the  right  to  nullify  a law  rested  on  the  same  principle,  but  that  it  was  a 
peaceable  remedy ! This  character  which  was  given  to  it  made  you  receive,  with 
too  much  confidence,  the  assertions  that  were  made  of  the  unconstitutionality  of 
the  law  and  its  oppressive  effects.  Mark,  my  fellow-citizens,  that,  by  the  ad- 
mission of  your  leaders,  the  unconstitutionality  must  be  palpable,  or  it  will  not 
justify  either  resistance  or  nullification ! What  is  the  meaning  of  the  word  pal- 
pable in  the  sense  in  which  it  is  here  used?  That  which  is  apparent  to  every 
one ; that  which  no  man  of  ordinary  intellect  will  fail  to  perceive.  Is  the  un- 
constitutionality of  these  laws  of  that  description?  Let  those  among  your 
leaders,  who  once  approved  and  advocated  the  principle  of  productive  duties, 
answer  the  question,  and  let  them  chose  whether  they  will  be  considered  as  in- 
capable, then,  of  perceiving  that  which  must  have  been  apparent  to  every  man 
of  common  understanding,  or  as  imposing  upon  your  confidence,  and  endeavor- 
ing to  mislead  you  now.  In  either  case  they  are  unsafe  guides  in  the  perilous 
path  they  urge  you  to  tread.  Ponder  well  on  this  circumstance,  and  you  will 
know  how  to  appreciate  the  exaggerated  language  they  address  to  you.  They 
are  not  champions  of  liberty  emulating  the  fame  of  our  revolutionary  fathers ; 
nor  are  you  an  oppressed  people,  contending,  as  they  repeat  to  you,  against 
worse  than  colonial  vassalage. 

You  are  free  members  of  a flourishing  and  happy  Union.  There  is  no  settled 
design  to  oppress  you.  You  have  indeed  felt  the  unequal  operation  of  laws 
which  may  have  been  unwisely,  not  unconstitutionally  passed ; but  that  inequality 
must  necessarily  be  removed.  At  the  very  moment  when  you  were  madly 
urged  on  to  the  unfortunate  course  you  have  begun,  a change  in  public  opinion 
had  commenced.  The  nearly  approaching  payment  of  the  public  debt,  and  the 
consequent  necessity  of  a diminution  of  duties,  had  already  produced  a consid- 
erable reduction,  and  that,  too,  on  some  articles  of  general  consumption  in  your 
State.  The  importance  of  this  change  was  underrated,  and  you  were  authori- 
tatively told  that  no  further  alleviation  of  your  burdens  was  to  be  expected  at 
the  very  time  when  the  condition  of  the  country  imperiously  demanded  such  a 
modification  of  the  duties  as  should  reduce  them  to  a just  and  equitable  scale. 
But,  as  if  apprehensive  of  the  effect  of  this  change  in  allaying  your  discontents, 
you  were  precipitated  into  the  fearful  state  in  which  you  now  find  yourselves. 

I have  urged  you  to  look  back  to  the  means  that  were  used  to  hurry  you  on 
to  the  position  you  have  now  assumed,  and  forward  to  the  consequences  it  will 
produce.  Something  more  is  necessary.  Contemplate  the  condition  of  that 
country  of  which  you  still  form  an  important  part.  Consider  its  government 
uniting  in  one  bond  of  common  interest  and  general  protection  so  many  different 
States — giving  to  all  their  inhabitants  the  proud  title  of  American  citizens,  pro- 
tecting their  commerce,  securing  their  literature  and  their  arts ; facilitating  their 
intercommunication ; defending  their  frontiers ; and  making  their  name  respected 
in  the  remotest  parts  of  the  earth.  Consider  the  extent  of  its  territory ; its  in- 
creasing and  happy  population;  its  advance  in  arts,  which  render  life  agreeable; 
and  the  sciences,  which  elevate  the  mind ! See  education  spreading  the  lights 
of  religion,  morality,  and  general  information  into  every  cottage  in  this  wide 
extent  of  our  Territories  and  States!  Behold  it  as  the  asylum  where  the 
wretched  and  the  oppressed  find  a refuge  and  support ! Look  on  this  picture 
of  happiness  and  honor,  and  say,  we,  too,  are  citizens  of  America  ! Caro- 
lina is  one  of  these  proud  States ; her  arms  have  defended,  her  best  blood  has 
cemented  this  happy  Union ! And  then  add,  if  you  can,  without  horror  and  re- 


24 


PROCLAMATION  OF  PRESIDENT  JACKSON. 


morse,  this  happy  Union  we  will  dissolve ; this  picture  of  peace  and  prosperity 
we  will  deface ; this  free  intercourse  we  will  interrupt;  these  fertile  fields  we 
will  deluge  with  blood;  the  protection  of  that  glorious  flag  we  renounce;  the 
very  name  of  Americans  we  discard.  And  for  what,  mistaken  men ; for  what 
do  you  throw  away  these  inestimable  blessings  ? For  what  would  you  exchange 
your  share  in  the  advantages  and  honor  of  the  Union?  For  the  dream  of 
separate  independence — a dream  interrupted  by  bloody  conflicts  with  your 
neighbors,  and  a vile  dependence  on  a foreign  power.  If  your  leaders  could 
succeed  in  establishing  a separation,  what  would  be  your  situation?  Are  you 
united  at  home ; are  you  free  from  the  apprehension  of  civil  discord,  with  all  its 
fearful  consequences  ? Do  our  neighboring  republics,  every  day  suffering  some 
new  revolution,  or  cantending  with  some  new  insurrection — do  they  excite  your 
envy  ? But  the  dictates  of  a high  duty  obliges  me  solemnly  to  announce  that 
you  cannot  succeed.  The  laws  of  the  United  States  must  be  executed.  I 
have  no  discretionary  power  on  the  subject ; my  duty  is  emphatically  pro- 
nounced in  the  Constitution.  Those  who  told  you  that  you  might  peaceably 
prevent  their  execution  deceived  you ; they  could  not  have  been  deceived  them- 
selves. They  know  that  a forcible  opposition  could  alone  prevent  the  execu- 
tion of  the  laws,  and  they  know  that  such  opposition  must  be  repelled.  Their 
object  is  disunion:  but  be  not  deceived  by  names;  disunion,  by  armed  force,  is 
treason.  Are  you  really  ready  to  incur  its  guilt?  If  you  are,  on  the  heads 
of  the  instigators  of  the  act  be  the  dreadful  consequences;  on  their  heads  be  the 
dishonor,  but  on  yours  may  fall  the  punishment.  On  your  unhappy  State  will 
inevitably  fall  all  the  evils  of  the  conflict  you  force  upon  the  government  of 
your  country.  It  cannot  accede  to  the  mad  project  of  disunion,  of  which  you 
would  be  the  first  victims ; its  first  magistrate  cannot,  if  he  would,  avoid  the 
performance  of  his  duty.  The  consequence  must  be  fearful  for  you,  distressing 
to  your  fellow-citizens  here,  and  to  the  friends  of  good  government  throughout 
the  world.  Its  enemies  have  beheld  our  prosperity  with  a vexation  they  could 
not  conceal;  it  was  a standing  refutation  of  their  slavish  doctrines,  and  they 
will  point  to  our  discord  with  the  triumph  of  malignant  joy.  It  is  yet  in  your 
power  to  disappoint  them.  There  is  yet  time  to  show  that  the  descendants  of 
the  Pinckneys,  the  Sumters,  the  Rutledges,  and  of  the  thousand  other  names 
which  adorn  the  pages  of  your  revolutionary  history,  will  not  abandon  that 
Union,  to  support  which  so  many  of  them  fought,  and  bled,  and  died. 

I adjure  you,  as  you  honor  their  memory,  as  you  love  the  cause  of  freedom, 
to  which  they  dedicated  their  lives,  as  you  prize  the  peace  of  your  country,  the 
lives  of  its  best  citizens,  and  your  own  fair  fame,  to  retrace  your  steps.  Snatch 
from  the  archives  of  your  State  the  disorganizing  edict  of  its  convention ; bid 
its  members  to  reassemble,  and  promulgate  the  decided  expressions  of  your 
will  to  remain  in  the  path  which  alone  can  conduct  you  to  safety,  prosperity, 
and  honor.  Tell  them  that,  compared  to  disunion,  all  other  evils  are  light, 
because  that  brings  with  it  an  accumulation  of  all.  Declare  that  you  will  never 
take  the  field  unless  the  star-spangled  banner  of  your  country  shall  float  over 
you;  that  you  will  not  be  stigmatized  when  dead,  and  dishonored  and  scorned 
while  you  live,  as  the  authors  of  the  first  attack  on  the  Constitution  of  your 
country.  Its  destroyers  you  cannot  be.  You  may  disturb  its  peace — you  may 
interrupt  the  course  of  its  prosperity — you  may  cloud  its  reputation  for  stability, 
but  its  tranquillity  will  be  restored,  its  prosperity  will  return,  and  the  stain  upon 
its  national  character  will  be  transferred  and  remain  an  eternal  blot  on  the 
memory  of  those  who  caused  the  disorder. 

Fellow-citizens  of  the  United  States  : The  threat  of  unhallowed  disunion — 
the  names  of  those  once  respected,  by  whom  it  is  uttered — the  array  of  military 
force  to  support  it — denote  the  approach  of  a crisis  in  our  affairs  on  which  the 
continuance  of  our  unexampled  prosperity,  our  political  existence,  and  perhaps 
that  of  all  free  governments  may  depend.  The  conjuncture  demanded  a free,  a 


PROCLAMATION  OF  PRESIDENT  JACKSON. 


25 


full,  and  explicit  enunciation,  not  only  of  my  intentions,  but  of  my  principles  of 
action ; and,  as  the  claim  was  asserted  of  a right  by  a State  to  annul  the  laws 
of  the  Union,  and  even  to  secede  from  it  at  pleasure,  a frank  exposition  of  my 
opinions  in  relation  to  the  origin  and  form  of  our  government,  and  the  construc- 
tion I give  to  the  instrument  by  which  it  was  created,  seemed  to  be  proper. 
Having  the  fullest  confidence  in  the  justness  of  the  legal  and  constitutional 
opinion  of  my  duties,  which  has  been  expressed,  I rely,  with  equal  confidence, 
on  your  undivided  support  in  my  determination  to  execute  the  laws,  to  preserve 
the  Union  by  all  constitutional  means,  to  arrest,  if  possible,  by  moderate  but  firm 
measures,  the  necessity  of  a recourse  to  force ; and,  if  it  be  the  will  of  Heaven, 
that  the  recurrence  of  its  primeval  curse  on  man  for  the  shedding  of  a brother’s 
blood  should  fall  upon  our  land,  that  it  be  not  called  down  by  any  offensive  act 
on  the  part  of  the  United  States. 

Fellow-citizens : The  momentous  case  is  before  you.  On  your  undivided 
support  of  your  government  depends  the  decision  of  the  great  question  it  in- 
volves, whether  your  sacred  Union  will  be  preserved,  and  the  blessings  it  secures 
to  us  as  one  people  shall  be  perpetuated.  No  one  can  doubt  that  the  unanimity 
with  which  that  decision  will  be  expressed  will  be  such  as  to  inspire  new  confi- 
dence in  republican  institutions,  and  that  the  prudence,  the  wisdom,  and  the 
courage  which  it  will  bring  to  their  defence  will  transmit  them  unimpaired  and 
invigorated  to  our  children. 

May  the  Great  Ruler  of  nations  grant  that  the  signal  blessings  with  which  he 
has  favored  ours  may  not,  by  the  madness  of  party  or  personal  ambition,  be  dis- 
regarded and  lost ; and  may  his  wise  Providence  bring  those  who  have  pro- 
duced this  crisis  to  see  their  folly  before  they  feel  the  misery  of  civil  strife,  and 
inspire  a returning  veneration  for  that  Union  which,  if  we  may  dare  to  pene- 
trate his  designs,  he  has  chosen  as  the  only  means  of  attaining  the  high  desti- 
nies to  which  we  may  reasonably  aspire. 

In  testimony  whereof,  I have  caused  the  seal  of  the  United  States  to  be 
hereunto  affixed,  having  signed  the  same  with  my  hand. 

Done  at  the  City  of  Washington,  this  10th  day  of  December,  in  the  year  of 
our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  thirty-two,  and  of  the  independence 
of  the  United  States  the  fifty-seventh. 

ANDREW  JACKSON. 

By  the  President : 

Edw.  Livingston, 

Secretary  of  State. 


' 


' 


' 


THE 


DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE. 

« 


IN  CONGRESS,  JULY  4,  1776. 


THE  UNANIMOUS  DECLARATION  OF  THE  THIRTEEN  UNITED  STATES 

OF  AMERICA. 

When,  in  the  course  of  human  events,  it  becomes  necessary  for  one  people  to 
dissolve  the  political  bands  which  have  connected  them  with  another,  and  to 
assume  among  the  powers  of  the  earth  the  separate  and  equal  station  to  which 
the  laws  of  nature  and  of  nature’s  God  entitle  them,  a decent  respect  to  the 
opinions  of  mankind  requires  that  they  should  declare  the  causes  which  impel 
them  to  the  separation. 

We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self-evident : that  all  men  are  created  equal ; that 
they  are  endowed  by  their  Creator  with  certain  unalienable  rights ; that  among 
these  are  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness.  That  to  secure  these 
rights,  governments  are  instituted  among  men,  deriving  their  just  powers  from 
the  consent  of  the  governed ; that  whenever  any  form  of  government  becomes 
destructive  of  these  ends,  it  is  the  right  of  the  people  to  alter  or  to  abolish  it, 
and  to  institute  a new  government,  laying  its  foundation  on  such  principles, 
and  organizing  its  powers  in  such  form,  as  to  them  shall  seem  most  likely  to 
effect  their  safety  and  happiness.  Prudence,  indeed,  will  dictate  that  govern- 
ments long  established  should  not  be  changed  for  light  and  transient  causes ; 
and,  accordingly,  all  experience  hath  shown  that  mankind  are  more  disposed  to 
suffer  while  evils  are  sufferable,  than  to  right  themselves  by  abolishing  the  forms 
to  which  they  are  accustomed.  But  when  a long  train  of  abuses  and  usurpa- 
tions, pursuing  invariably  the  same  object,  evinces  a design  to  reduce  them 
under  absolute  despotism,  it  is  their  right,  it  is  their  duty  to  throw  off  such 
government,  and  to  provide  new  guards  for  their  future  security.  Such  has 
been  the  patient  sufferance  of  these  colonies ; and  such  is  now  the  necessity 
which  constrains  them  to  alter  their  former  systems  of  government.  The  his- 
tory of  the  present  King  of  Great  Britain  is  a history  of  repeated  injuries  and 
usurpations,  all  having  in  direct  object  the  establishment  of  an  absolute  tyranny 
over  these  States.  To  prove  this,  let  facts  be  submitted  to  a candid  world. 

He  has  refused  his  assent  to  laws  the  most  wholesome  and  necessary  for  the 
public  good. 

He  has  forbidden  his  governors  to  pass  laws  of  immediate  and  pressing  im- 
portance, unless  suspended  in  their  operation  till  his  assent  should  be  obtained ; 
and,  when  so  suspended,  he  has  utterly  neglected  to  attend  to  them. 

He  has  refused  to  pass  other  laws  for  the  accommodation  of  large  districts  of 
people,  unless  those  people  would  relinquish  the  right  of  representation  in  the 
legislature — a right  inestimable  to  them,  and  formidable  to  tyrants  only.  He 


28 


DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE. 


lias  called  together  legislative  bodies  at  places  unusual,  uncomfortable,  and  dis- 
tant from  the  depository  of  their  public  records,  for  the  sole  purpose  of  fatiguing 
them  into  compliance  with  his  measures. 

lie  has  dissolved  representative  houses  repeatedly,  for  opposing  with  manly 
firmness  his  invasions  on  the  rights  of  the  people. 

He  has  refused  for  a long  time  after  such  dissolutions  to  cause  others  to  be 
elected ; whereby  the  legislative  powers,  incapable  of  annihilation,  have  returned 
to  the  people  at  large  for  their  exercise ; the  State  remaining  in  the  meantime 
exposed  to  all  the  dangers  of  invasion  from  without  and  convulsions  within. 

He  has  endeavored  to  prevent  the  population  of  these  States ; for  that  pur- 
pose obstructing  the  laws  for  naturalization  of  foreigners,  refusing  to  pass  others 
to  encourage  their  migrations  hither,  and  raising  the^  conditions  of  new  appro- 
priations of  lands. 

He  has  obstructed  the  administration  of  justice,  by  refusing  his  assent  to  laws 
for  establishing  judiciary  powers. 

He  has  made  judges  dependent  on  his  will  alone  for  the  tenure  of  their  offices, 
and  the  amount  and  payment  of  their  salaries. 

He  has  erected  a multitude  of  new  offices,  and  sent  hither  swarms  of  officers, 
to  harass  our  people  and  eat  out  their  substance. 

He  has  kept  among  us  in  times  of  peace  standing  armies,  without  the  consent 
of  our  legislatures. 

He  has  affected  to  render  the  military  independent  of,  and  superior  to,  the 
civil  power. 

He  has  combined  with  others  to  subject  us  to  a jurisdiction  foreign  to  our 
constitution  and  unacknowledged  by  our  laws,  giving  his  assent  to  their  acts  of 
pretended  legislation : 

For  quartering  large  bodies  of  armed  troops  among  us ; 

F or  protecting  them,  by  a mock  trial,  from  punishment  for  any  murders  which 
they  should  commit  on  the  inhabitants  of  these  States ; 

For  cutting  off  our  trade  with  all  parts  of  the  world ; 

For  imposing  taxes  on  us  without  our  consent ; 

For  depriving  us  in  many  cases  of  the  benefits  of  trial  by  jury ; 

For  transporting  us  beyond  seas  to  be  tried  for  pretended  offences ; 

For  abolishing  the  free  system  of  English  laws  in  a neighboring  province, 
establishing  therein  an  arbitrary  government,  and  enlarging  its  boundaries,  so 
as  to  render  it  at  once  an  example  and  fit  instrument  for  introducing  the  same 
absolute  rule  into  these  colonies ; 

For  taking  away  our  charters,  abolishing  our  most  valuable  laws,  and  altering 
fundamentally  the  forms  of  our  governments ; 

For  suspending  our  own  legislatures,  and  declaring  themselves  invested  with 
power  to  legislate  for  us  in  all  cases  whatsoever. 

He  has  abdicated  government  here,  by  declaring  us  out  of  his  protection,  and 
waging  war  against  us. 

He  lias  plundered  our  seas,  ravaged  our  coasts,  burnt  our  towns,  and  destroyed 
the  lives  of  our  people. 

He  is  at  this  time  transporting  large  armies  of  foreign  mercenaries  to  com- 
plete the  works  of  death,  desolation,  and  tyranny  already  begun  with  circum- 
stances of  cruelty  and  perfidy  scarcely  paralleled  in  the  most  barbarous  ages, 
and  totally  unworthy  the  head  of  a civilized  nation. 

He  has  constrained  our  fellow-citizens,  taken  captive  on  the  high  seas,  to 
bear  arms  against  their  country,  to  become  the  executioners  of  their  friends  and 
brethren,  or  to  fall  themselves  by  their  hands. 

He  has  excited  domestic  insurrections  amongst  us,  and  has  endeavored  to 
bring  on  the  inhabitants  of  our  frontiers  the  merciless  Indian  savages,  whose 
known  rule  of  warfare  is  an  undistinguished  destruction  of  all  ages,  sexes,  and 
conditions. 


DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE. 


29 


In  every  stage  of  these  oppressions  we  liave  petitioned  for  redress  in  the 
most  humble  terms.  Our  repeated  petitions  have  been  answered  only  by  re- 
peated injury.  A prince  whose  character  is  thus  marked  by  every  act  which 
may  define  a tyrant  is  unfit  to  be  the  ruler  of  a free  people. 

Nor  have  we  been  wanting  in  attentions  to  our  British  brethren.  We  have 
warned  them,  from  time  to  time,  of  attempts  by  their  legislature  to  extend  an 
unwarrantable  jurisdiction  over  us.  We  have  reminded  them  of  the  circum- 
stances of  our  emigration  and  settlement  here.  We  have  appealed  to  their 
native  justice  and  magnanimity,  and  we  have  conjured  them  by  the  ties  of  our 
common  kindred  to  disavow  these  usurpations,  which  would  inevitably  interrupt 
our  connexions  and  correspondence.  They,  too,  have  been  deaf  to  the  voice  of 
justice  and  of  consanguinity.  We  must,  therefore,  acquiesce  in  the  necessity 
which  denounces  our  separation,  and  hold  them,  as  we  hold  the  rest  of  man- 
kind, enemies  in  war,  in  peace  friends. 

We,  therefore,  the  representatives  of  the  United  States  of  America,  in 
General  Congress  assembled,  appealing  to  the  Supreme  Judge  of  the  world  for 
the  rectitude  of  our  intentions,  do,  in  the  name  and  by  authority  of  the  good  people 
of  these  colonies,  solemnly  publish  and  declare,  That  these  United  Colonies  are, 
and  of  right  ought  to  be,  Free  and  Independent  States  ; that  they  are  absolved 
from  all  allegiance  to  the  British  crown,  and  that  all  political  connexion  between 
them  and  the  State  of  Great  Britain  is,  and  ought  to  be,  totally  dissolved ; and 
that,  as  Free  and  Independent  States,  they  have  full  power  to  levy  war, 
conclude  peace,  contract  alliances,  establish  commerce,  and  to  do  all  other  acts 
and  things  which  Independent  States  may  of  right  do.  And  for  the  sup- 
port of  this  Declaration,  with  a firm  reliance  on  the  protection  of  Divine 
Providence,  we  mutually  pledge  to  each  other  our  lives,  our  fortunes,  and  our 
sacred  honor. 

JOHN  HANCOCK. 


NEW  HAMPSHIRE. 

Josiah  Bartlett.  Matthew  Thornton. 

William  Whipple. 

MASSACHUSETTS  BAY. 

Samuel  Adams.  Robert  Treat  Paine. 

John  Adams.  Elbridge  Gerry. 

RHODE  ISLAND,  &c. 

Stephen  Hopkins.  William  Ellery. 

CONNECTICUT. 

Roger  Sherman.  William  Williams. 

Samuel  Huntington.  Oliver  Wolcott. 

NEW  YORK. 


William  Floyd. 
Philip  Livingston. 


Francis  Lewis. 
Lewis  Morris. 


30 


DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE, 


NEW  JERSEY. 

Richard  Stockton.  John  Hart. 

John  Witherspoon.  Abraham  Clark. 

Francis  IIopkinson. 


PENNSYLVANIA. 


Robert  Morris. 
Benjamin  Rush. 
Benjamin  Franklin. 
John  Morton. 


James  Smith. 
George  Taylor. 
James  Wilson. 
George  Ross. 


George  Clymer. 


DELAWARE. 

CiESAR  Rodney.  Thomas  McKean. 

George  Read. 


MARYLAND. 

Samuel  Chase.  Thomas  Stone. 

William  Paca.  Charles  Carroll,  of  Carrollton. 

VIRGINIA. 

George  Wythe.  Thomas  Nelson,  Jr. 

Richard  Henry  Lee.  Francis  Lightfoot  Lee. 

Thomas  Jefferson.  Carter  Braxton. 

Benjamin  Harrison. 

NORTH  CAROLINA. 

William  Hooper.  John  Penn. 

Joseph  Hewes. 

SOUTH  CAROLINA. 

Edward  Rutledge.  Thomas  Lynch,  Jr. 

Thomas  Hayward,  Jr.  Arthur  Middleton. 

GEORGIA. 

Button  Gwinnett.  George  Walton. 

Lyman  Hall. 


Q 


